Financing Climate Action in Pakistan: Solutions and Way Forward

Climate change is the gravest challenge of our time and how fast and extensively it is transforming the world does not need to be substantiated. Earth’s changing climate is a combination of natural variation and human impact. Natural processes driving Earth’s long term climate variability do not explain the rapid change observed in recent decades with available evidence consistently pointing to the fact that human impacts are playing a much larger role in climate change particularly through industrial activities that have resulted in alarming carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Climate change can lead to dire consequences such as rising sea levels, increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, worsening air and water quality, etc. warranting urgent measures to contain the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Momentum around climate change adaptation seems to be building, both in academic research and in political discourse. Decisions made now regarding infrastructure, research and finance will affect how climate impacts play out in the future; and it is clear that immediate and ambitious action is needed, not only to lower emissions but also to mitigate the impacts of climate change felt across the world now and by future generations.