AsiaNet-Pakistan Premier Editorial Content and Press Release Distribution Service
New york: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has called upon the international community to honour its commitment on climate finance. He was speaking at the Special Climate Event convened by UN Secretary-General Ant³nio Guterres along with the President of Brazil in New York.
According to Radio Pakistan, the Prime Minister stressed that debt-driven finance cannot address the climate catastrophe confronting vulnerable nations like Pakistan. Shehbaz Sharif reminded delegates that Pakistan is still reeling from the scars of the 2022 floods, which inflicted losses exceeding 30 billion dollars and displaced millions.
He also apprised the delegates about this year’s intense monsoon rains that have impacted more than five million people, destroyed four thousand one hundred villages, and claimed over one thousand lives. The Prime Minister pointed out that Pakistan has suffered the most from climate change despite its minimal contribution to global greenhouse emissions.
As part of the overall target of cutting emissions by fifty percent, he said that Pakistan has already delivered on its unconditional pledge of a fifteen percent reduction. The Prime Minister also announced plans to increase the share of renewables and hydropower to 62 percent of the country’s energy mix by 2035, shifting 30 percent of transport to cleaner mobility, and advancing the plantation of 1 billion trees.