Key points
• Pakistan stresses need for international climate finance to achieve the 50% emissions reduction target.
• Adaptation must be treated as equal to Mitigation for climate-vulnerable nations.
• Pakistan briefs UNFCCC on glacier resilience initiatives and upcoming Cross-Regional Summit.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has called for scaled-up international climate finance and stronger support for adaptation at the ongoing UN Climate Summit (COP30), highlighting the country’s commitment to achieving its climate targets despite mounting vulnerabilities.
Secretary Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination (MoCC&EC), Ms Aisha Humera Chaudhry, met with UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell to discuss Pakistan’s updated climate commitments, ongoing resilience initiatives, and expectations from the global climate process.
The meeting held in the Amazonian city of Belem on the sidelines of the UN Climate Summit (COP30), wherein Chaudhry outlined Pakistan’s Third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0), which increases domestically financed emissions reduction from 15 per cent to 17per cent and sets a roadmap toward a 50 per cent reduction by 2035. She emphasised that realising the full target depends on international climate finance, estimated at US$565 billion by 2035, and noted that prior pledges have yet to materialise at the required scale.
The Secretary stressed the importance of “adaptation” as a pillar equal to Mitigation, calling for a clear Global Goal on adaptation and additional grant-based finance to support NAPs, NDCs, and resilience programmes. She highlighted Pakistan’s fragile mountain ecosystems, including over 13,000 glaciers in the Hindukush, Karakoram, and Himalaya ranges, and has briefed UNFCCC leadership on the Cross-Regional Glacier Resilience Initiative and the upcoming Cross-Regional Glacier Resilience Summit to share knowledge with other vulnerable countries.
The meeting also covered Pakistan’s strengthened engagement with the NDC Partnership, reinforcing domestic mitigation and resilience actions while seeking greater international cooperation to meet global climate objectives.
