ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday called upon the international community to honor its commitment on climate finance, stressing that debt-driven finance cannot address the climate catastrophe confronting vulnerable nations such as Pakistan.

“Loans over loans, [and] adding to loans is not a solution,” Sharif said, while speaking at the Special Climate Event convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres along with the President of Brazil (COP-30 Host) for Member States to present new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with year 2035 targets.

Sharif expressed Pakistan’s commitment to be part of the solution to the climate crisis, hoping that the international community would also honor its commitment for the sake of the future generations.

Over five million impacted

He reminded delegates that Pakistan was still reeling from the scars of the 2022 floods, which inflicted losses exceeding $30 billion and displaced millions.

“This year, intense monsoon rains, cloudbursts, flash floods and devastating urban flooding have impacted more than five million people, destroyed 4,100 villages, and claimed over 1,000 precious lives,” Sharif added.

Highlighting Pakistan’s minimal contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, the prime minister said that despite negligible contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, “We bear impacts far beyond our share”.

Pakistan's national adaptation plan

However, he pointed out that our commitment to delivering on our climate agenda, remained steadfast and unwavering. “In our 2021 nationally determined contribution, Pakistan committed to an unconditional 15% reduction in projected greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.”

As part of the overall target of cutting emissions by 50%, he shared that Pakistan had already delivered on its unconditional pledge of a 15% reduction.

“Renewables are presently providing over 32% of Pakistan's power mix. Solar energy has grown seven-fold since 2021,” the prime minister added.

Furthermore, he emphasized that 23,000 hectares of mangrove forests had been restored. “However, the implementation of Pakistan's national adaptation plan is hampered and hampered severely due to inadequate international climate finance,” he regretted.

Premier Sharif announced to increase the share of renewables and hydropower to 62% of the country’s energy mix by 2035, expanding nuclear energy capacity by 1,200 megawatt by 2030, shifting 30% of transport to cleaner mobility by 2030, and establishing 3,000 charging stations nationwide, scaling up climate smart agriculture, safeguarding water security, and advancing the implantation of one billion trees.

‘Still possible’

Earlier, in his remarks, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that it was still possible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees by century’s end.

He told the gathering that clean energy was powering jobs, growth and sustainable development besides generating the fastest and cheapest electricity and insulating economies from volatile fossil fuel markets.

‘Climate action is imperative’

"The bottom-line: clean is competitive, and climate action is imperative," he remarked.

He said that the Paris Agreement had made a difference as in the last 10 years and "now, we need new plans for 2035 that go much further, and much faster."

The UN chief stressed that "COP30 in Brazil must conclude with a credible global response plan to get us on track and "show a credible path to mobilizing the $1.3 trillion annually in climate finance by 2035, as agreed at COP29 in Baku," including identifying funding sources, making finance accessible, and ensuring accountability.

He also underlined that "developing countries that did least to cause the crisis are suffering most," and called for "effective debt relief, and scaled-up solutions like debt swaps and disaster pause clauses."

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Pakistan premier urges world to honor climate pledges over debt-driven finance