KEY POINTS
- Aurangzeb urges integration of climate finance into national budget planning
- Pakistan’s climate framework includes adaptation plan, NDCs, and a green taxonomy
- Highlights $1.3bn IMF facility, $500m ADB support, and $2bn annual World Bank framework
- Calls for mobilising private capital through green bonds and carbon markets
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb emphasised the urgent need to integrate climate finance into Pakistan’s fiscal framework.
The Finance Minister called for practical and coordinated efforts to align economic planning with sustainability objectives.
Speaking at the 28th Sustainable Development Conference (SDC), hosted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), the minister noted that countries like Pakistan must strengthen their fiscal and external buffers to manage external shocks, especially in light of rising global protectionism and shifts in supply chains.
He also highlighted Pakistan’s developing digital finance landscape, mentioning the formation of the Pakistan Crypto Council and the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, which is currently under legislative consideration in Parliament.
Aurangzeb stated that Pakistan’s approach to virtual assets and blockchain technology would be risk-sensitive and compliant with safeguards against money laundering, capital flight, and investor misuse.
Addressing the key issue of climate finance, the minister outlined Pakistan’s comprehensive policy framework, which includes the National Adaptation Plan, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and the Climate Prosperity Plan, among other initiatives.
He also mentioned the V-20, the State Bank’s Green Taxonomy, and the National Climate Finance Strategy unveiled in Baku last year.
He said Pakistan had already secured considerable multilateral assistance — including $1.3 billion from the International Monetary Fund under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), $500 million from the Asian Development Bank, and a 10-year Country Partnership Framework with the World Bank Group valued at $2 billion annually — with a major focus on climate change and population management.
Aurangzeb called for realism of international climate finance mechanisms, observing that funds such as the Green Climate Fund and the Loss and Damage Fund remained limited and bureaucratic.
He said Pakistan must increasingly rely on domestic resource mobilisation, private capital, and market-based solutions such as green bonds and carbon markets.
The minister praised private sector initiatives, including Acumen’s $90 million Climate Action Fund and Sindh’s mangrove carbon credit project, urging that such models be replicated nationwide.
He also pointed to opportunities in debt-for-nature swaps and called for enhanced technical capacity to structure viable, investment-grade climate projects.
Aurangzeb said finance ministries must play a central role in integrating climate objectives into national budgets to ensure that environmental priorities become part of policy implementation.
He reaffirmed the government’s resolve to align economic and fiscal planning with sustainable, climate-resilient growth.
Concluding his remarks, the minister stressed collective responsibility among public and private stakeholders, saying Pakistan must maximise the use of existing instruments before seeking new ones.
“We must take ownership, coordinate better, and move forward with urgency to address these existential issues,” he said.
