PAKISTAN’s export-oriented textile, sports goods and leather industries are entering a global phase in which environmental performance is becoming increasingly important for maintaining access to major international markets. For a country already facing high energy costs, financing constraints, infrastructure weaknesses and policy uncertainty, the transition towards cleaner production could either become a competitive advantage or another financial burden.
International buyers increasingly expect their suppliers to demonstrate lower carbon emissions, responsible energy use, efficient water and waste management, traceability and stronger environmental standards. Manufacturers in Pakistan, therefore, need to invest in renewable energy, efficient machinery, cleaner boilers, wastewater treatment, carbon accounting, digital traceability and skilled personnel.
The challenge is that these investments can be particularly difficult for small and medium-sized manufacturers, which often lack access to affordable capital and green financing. While manufacturers must take responsibility for improving their environmental performance, it is neither economically fair nor strategically sustainable to place the entire cost of the transition on suppliers.
This is where the principle of shared transition responsibility becomes rather important. The emerging platform of Shared Transition Responsibility Movement (STRM) seeks to distribute the cost and effort of industrial decarbonisation more equitably among manufac- turers, brands and financiers rather than placing the entire burden of compliance on suppliers.
It is a growing international coalition of researchers, sustainability practitioners, advocacy organisations, industry partners, and development finance institutions working to institutionalise the principle that international brands bear shared responsibility, both moral and financial, for decarbonising the supply chains from which they profit.
If international brands benefit from cleaner supply chains through reduced emissions, improved sustainability credentials and compliance with emerging regulations, they should also share the cost of achieving those improvements.
Brand co-investment, long-term purchasing commitments, preferential sourcing, technical assistance and access to concessional green finance could provide manufacturers with the confidence required to make long-term investments.
Governments also have a critical role to play. Pakistan needs predictable environmental and energy policies, competitive electricity prices, stronger grid infrastructure, effective environmental regulations and incentives that make green investment commercially viable.
Climate, energy and export policies must, therefore, be developed as interconnected components of economic strategy. Sustainability should also no longer be treated merely as a compliance exercise. It must become part of production, procurement, finance, energy management and corporate planning.
Technologies, such as digital product passports, can further strengthen traceability and transparency right across supply chains.
Pakistan just cannot afford to choose between export competitiveness and climate responsibility. The real danger is an unequal transition in which local factories are required to finance costly environmental upgrades to meet standards established in international markets while continuing to face pressure for lower prices and shorter sourcing commitments.
If global brands want cleaner supply chains, they should help finance them. If Pakistan wants to retain its place in global value chains, the government must create an enabling policy and energy environment.
And, if manufacturers want to remain competitive, they must view sustainability as an investment in their future rather than merely another compliance cost. The climate transition is reshaping international trade. Pakistan’s objective should not simply be to comply with the emerging rules, but to ensure that its exporters have a fair opportunity to compete under them.
Naeem Ahmad
Faisalabad
Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2026
