ISLAMABAD: “As we approach the Global Stocktake at COP28, I see global records being broken by climate change, while actions taken to match pledges fall short,” Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Senator Sherry Rehman has said.

“We’re in a race against time, and gatherings like these are crucial in dispelling the growing climate cynicism that has taken hold across the world, particularly among the youth. However, it’s imperative that we move beyond talk and actually take action, especially in the case of countries and big businesses that fail to align with global carbon budgets and our Paris Agreement goals,” said the minister.

According to a statement issued here, she is representing Pakistan at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue in Berlin, a high-level political discussion on climate cooperation and Global Stocktake ahead of the COP28 in UAE.

“For our part, Pakistan is aligned with the commitments of the Paris Agreement, and we look forward to a real change in the glacial pace of climate finance, adaptation and mitigation in our collective efforts, as developing countries such as Pakistan are actually facing climate catastrophe but face a significant obstacles in securing the necessary funding to meet their climate goals,” said the minister while speaking to the media on the first day of the Ministerial dialogue.

Minister Rehman said, “While developed countries received 52 percent of climate finance in 2022, developing economies only received 48 percent, despite representing 80 percent of the world population.

This is particularly alarming as developing countries, including Pakistan, have limited access to international climate finance. Pakistan requires $348 billion between 2022 and 2030, representing 10.7 percent of its cumulative GDP, to meet its climate needs.”

She elaborated that according to the UNFCCC Standing Committee on Finance, 78 developing countries that have submitted their NDCs require a staggering $6 trillion until 2030 to meet their financial requirements under the Paris Agreement.

The minister highlighted that a clear definition of climate finance was essential for transparency and accountability in the distribution and use of climate finance. She also stressed that the international financial architecture must be restructured to make climate finance more accessible to developing nations.

“The slogan that we should “leave no one behind” will become meaningless if accessing climate finance remains out of reach for developing and vulnerable countries.

Most of the developing world is actually being left behind while the gulf between ambitions, pledges and actions continues to grow, bolstered with ambitious language that has less and less to do with climate facts on the ground.

Words matter and they should not be used to normalise inaction, where vaulting targets and pledges sanitise lack of actual action and fulfilment of pledges,” the minister stated.

Rehman said that climate justice and equitable adaptation and mitigation efforts are at the heart of this discourse. She emphasized, “The CBDR principle of the UNFCCC obligates developed countries to provide new, additional, adequate, and sustained financial resources to developing countries.

Before states get to COP28, we must resolve crucial queries related to the recently created Loss and Damage (L&D) Fund and prioritize funding gaps in the global financial infrastructure.”

Minister Rehman provided an outline for COP28, underlining the importance of preventing developing countries from being trapped in financial debts and dependencies while addressing climate injustice, and that the Global Stock Take (GST) provides a chance to assess progress and make recommendations for the right financial set-up for climate action; the need to bridge individual JET-Ps to regional mechanisms, enhance access to concessional financing for climate-vulnerable countries, re-channel more Special Drawing Rights, and boost the financial firepower of MDBs.

She concluded that it was the collective responsibility of the global community to act with urgency and take the required steps to tackle climate change to ensure a sustainable future for all.

In her closing remarks she emphasized, “We must act now because the cost of inaction is alarming, projected to reach up to $23 trillion by 2050. The time is now to take action to mitigate the impacts of climate change and build a resilient and sustainable future for all,” she stated.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023