ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said on Thursday the international community would be fast heading towards climate breakdown if the global community failed to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees centigrade as agreed under the Paris climate pact.

“Achieving the Paris climate goal of limiting warming since pre-industrial times to 1.5 degrees by the end of the century is not possible if carbon-cutting pledges by the countries through adoption of renewable energy sources for fueling the economies and sustainable production and consumption patterns are not implemented effectively,” he warned while speaking at a post-26th session of the UN-led global climate summit press conference held here.

He urged rich countries to fulfill a 12-year-old pledge of providing $100 billion a year in financial climate aid to developing nations. This was to ensure that half of that amount went to help poor nations adapt to the worst effects of climate change.

Mr Aslam led a 10-member delegation to the summit, also called COP26, from both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Climate Change.

By 2030, Pakistan aims to shift to 60pc renewable energy and 30pc electric vehicles, says PM’s aide

The two-week summit, which concluded on November 13 in Glasgow, was attended by delegates from over 196 countries to negotiate a roadmap of implementing the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees centigrade by the end of the century and save planet earth from devastating effects of climate crisis.

M Aslam told the media: “We also informed the summit participants that by 2030 Pakistan aims to shift to 60 per cent renewable energy and 30pc electric vehicles and completely ban imported coal.”

Pakistan was already implementing nature-based solutions with Recharge Pakistan, Protected Areas Initiative and 10 Billion Tree Tsunami Programme to mitigate its climate vulnerability while mobilising its own financial resources, he added.

He recalled that Pakistan attended the UN climate meeting with clear vision and agenda - to highlight the country’s heightened level of climate vulnerability and showcase various green and clean programmes and project-related activities being implemented.

“We saw significant interest of the global participants of the summit in the country’s green programmes and projects, particularly the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, e-vehicle, renewable energy projects, Recharge Pakistan Programme, Protected Areas Initiative, Green Bonds and Green Stimulus showcased at the Pakistan pavilion,” he added.

He also said 25 side events and 50 bilateral meetings with international donor and non-donor organisations were held at the Pakistan pavilion.

He said the UK government had pledged 50 million pounds and the German government 150 million Euros for investing in Pakistan’s green and clean initiatives. Besides, international donor organisations, including Asian Development Bank and World Bank also pledged to join Pakistan’s green initiatives with finances and technical support.

He said Pakistan was steadily cutting down on its carbon emissions level as a part of global climate action after various robust green and clean programmes.

“During the summit, we highlighted that Pakistan has brought down climate-altering carbon emissions at national level by 9pc from 2016 to 2020 following massive afforestation programmes,” he added.

According to Mr Aslam, the country’s carbon dioxide emissions for 2018 remained 489.87 metric tons. He anticipated that onceimplemented fully, the afforestation projects would remove from the atmosphere some 500 metric tons of carbon dioxide by 2040.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2021