EUROPE’S summer has come to mirror the warnings climate scientists have issued for years. Wildfires have swept through France, Greece, Spain, Croatia and Germany, while repeated heatwaves have strained water supplies and power systems, damaged crops and forced evacuations. Western Europe recorded its hottest June-July period on record, while Britain entered a fifth heatwave this summer. Across the Atlantic, Canada and the US have also faced fires, smoke, flooding and extreme heat. Such events were once regarded as freak weather. And now, the World Meteorological Organisation warns that extreme heat is becoming more frequent, more intense and longer-lasting as the planet warms. For Pakistan, this is all too familiar. This country has long lived on the front line of climate change despite contributing less than 1pc of global greenhouse-gas emissions. The catastrophic floods of 2022 caused more than $30bn in damage and economic losses, while recurring heatwaves, glacial melt, erratic monsoons and drought continue to punish people who did little to create the crisis. There should be no satisfaction in seeing richer societies suffer. But perhaps experiencing climate disruption at home will make governments understand the urgency felt in countries such as Pakistan.

That understanding must be translated into money and action. Developed countries promised $100bn a year in climate finance by 2020, yet the target was first reached only in 2022. COP29 replaced it with a goal of at least $300bn annually for developing countries by 2035, alongside a broader effort to mobilise $1.3tr a year. COP30 then called for adaptation finance to be tripled by 2035. These figures must not become another series of impressive announcements followed by delayed delivery, inaccessible funds or loans that deepen debt. Climate finance must be predictable, grant-based and easier to access, with serious funding for adaptation and loss and damage. Wealthy countries have discovered that adaptation is expensive: fires, drought and heat are imposing enormous costs on public budgets and insurers. That should strengthen the case for solidarity. When COP31 meets in Antalya in November, the question should no longer be whether climate change is real or expensive. The evidence is burning across landscapes and overwhelming communities. The test is whether proximity to disaster has finally produced political seriousness — and the conscience to honour obligations to those who have borne the heaviest burden for the least responsibility.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2026