Pakistan requires $6 to 14 billion in climate adaptation costs: PM

Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday that Pakistan’s future climate adaptation costs were "estimated to be between $6 to 14 billion."

Addressing the Middle East Green Initiative (MGI) Summit in Riyadh, the premier said that Pakistan has faced at least 152 extreme weather events in a decade, which triggered an economic loss of over $3.8 billion.

PM Imran informed the forum that Pakistan is among the 10 most vulnerable countries to climate change globally.

At the outset of his address, he pointed out that just 10 percent of the world's countries were responsible for emissions causing environmental damage.

‘Pakistan amongst 10 most vulnerable countries of climate change’

The Global Climate Risk Index, published by Germanwatch, has ranked Pakistan as the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change in its 2021 report. According to the report, Pakistan is among the countries that are "recurrently affected by catastrophes [and] continuously rank among the most affected countries both in the long-term index and in the index for the respective year".

PM also talked about some of the initiatives that Pakistan has taken to deal with the issue of climate change.

The premier informed the forum that Pakistan has decided to shift 60 percent of all energy into clean energy by 2030.

Pakistan 5th most vulnerable country to climate change: Report

“30 percent of all transport will be shifted to electric vehicles by 2030,” he said.

Talking about coal power plants, the premier said that Pakistan has already shelved 2400 megawatts worth of projects, and replaced them with 3700 megawatts of hydroelectricity.

He said Pakistan is focused on finding nature-based solutions. “We have invested in 10 billion trees,” he said.

“Pakistan is the only country where mangrove cover is growing. We plan to plant one billion more mangrove trees by 2023,” he added.

Talking about the jobs due to these nature-based initiatives, he said that we have produced eighty-five thousand such jobs. “By the end of next year, they [jobs] should be over two hundred thousand.”

He said that the World Bank has acknowledged Pakistan’s effort to put its development finance on a climate-friendly trajectory. “So far, 44 percent of all of our financing has been climate-friendly,” he said.

Pakistan's green finance initiatives such as green bonds, nature bonds, and others are being recognized internationally, he added.

The premier concluded his speech by saying that humanity faces one of the biggest crises in the form of climate change.

“I hope all of us collectively take this challenge much more seriously,” he said.

PM Imran invites Saudi Arabia to benefit from Pakistan's economic offerings

Earlier today, while addressing the Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh, PM invited the Kingdom's business community to benefit from offerings in Pakistan.

The prime minister expressed hope that the private sectors of the two countries would take full advantage of close and cordial bilateral relations to realise the untapped potential in the fields of trade, business and investment.

He assured the Saudi government that Pakistan will be standing with the Kingdom to protect their security.

“I want to assure Saudi Arabia that whenever there is any threat, I can assure you that Pakistan will be standing with you to protect your security,” said Khan.