• Says ‘overexcited’ lawmakers need to make a regulatory framework
• Recalls $30bn funds outstanding in the wake of 2022 floods

ISLAMABAD: Senior puisne judge Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah has observed that the government has yet to establish a Climate Change Authority or Climate Change Fund under Climate Change Act, 2017.

The ‘overexcited’ legislators dealt with matters overnight, but they did not set up a climate change fund or authority despite the fact that climate financing has become a lifeline for vulnerable countries like Pakistan, Justice Shah observed while speaking at a high-level Climate Finance Forum and COP-29 Preparatory Workshop, on Saturday.

The two-day event — co-hosted by Sohail and Partners and Resources Future, in collaboration with Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, and the National Institute of Banking and Finance (NIBAF), Islamabad — was designed to engage in strategic discussions for robust solutions to mobilise climate finance for Pakistan’s mitigation and adaptation efforts.

“The government needs to wake up and think more seriously on such issues rather than other issues,” Justice Shah emphasised.

He recalled how the Climate Act was essential for suitable adaptation of projects and submissions to international and local institutions for glo­bal funding related to climate chan­­ge susceptibility. “Sadly, when the law was passed in 2017, and we are now in 2024, there is no such aut­hority in the country,” he reiterated while recalling how a public interest petition came to the Supr­eme Court with a prayer to direct the government to set up the climate change authority.

But the government had no answer when the SC asked about earmarking funds in budget for climate change, he said. “I failed to understand, as a judge, what would be more important for allocation in the budget if you do not allocate anything for climate change in a country severely hit by climate change,” he regretted. This was shocking, though the government assured the court that there would be allocations in future budgets, he said.

“What I want to tell you is the reality check that the 2017 Act asks for the climate authority, but in reality, no such authority exists till date, besides not a single penny coming to climate change funds,” he bemoa­ned.

There must be a proper regulatory framework and ‘overexcited’ legislators need to come up with a robust and targeted regulatory framework. He emphasised that lack of such framework posed a risk to timely project implementation and limits investors’ confidence in the security of climate-related projects.

“The climate change should be the topmost human right issue since climate change is the greatest existential threat that Pakistan is passing through,” he cautioned. He said jud­ges looked at climate change as a human right issue, as extreme wea­ther events create basic rights issues of access to food, water and health. Therefore, any climate financing has become essential to preserving hum­an dignity and human survival, he said.

“For Pakistan, climate finance is not a choice but a survival strategy,” Justice Shah observed. “When our house is on fire, I think climate finance is the water through which we need to put that fire out.”

Justice Shah said international finance of $30 billion was outstanding in the wake of the 2022 floods. “Therefore, we need to agitate this matter as a human right obligation; otherwise, there will be no way to get such funds internationally,” he said.

Justice Shah said the courts, as protectors of rights, could hold the state to these commitments for ensuring that financial support flows to those who need it most by translating international agreements into forcing rights to the communities facing the gravest threats.

He noted that climate finance was not merely an economic policy but a matter of survival and justice.

The judiciary, both nationally and internationally, had an unprecedented role in ensuring these funds were managed, protected, and implemented to meet the urgent needs of vulnerable nations and communities.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2024