ISLAMABAD:Federal Minister for Climate Change, Senator Sherry Rehman met Mr Najy Benhassine, Country Director, World Bank (WB) and discussed the ongoing projects in Pakistan by the World Bank.

During the meeting, the Federal Minister was briefed on the overall objective of the Bank’s climate initiatives in Pakistan. According to a statement issued here on Tuesday, while discussing the importance of all the projects, Sherry Rehman said that such programmes are extremely vital for the materialization of our Climate goals.

She said we recognize that sufficient, reliable, clean and cost-effective availability of energy, water and food – for now, and in the future – is indispensable to ensure sustainable economic growth and development. The Minister said we need to strive for a cleaner, greener Pakistan. While discussing the need for energy transition, she said the infrastructure required in the direction of a clean energy transition still seems under-resourced for Pakistan, which is home to a substantial source of renewable energy.

She said as far as electric vehicles are concerned our recommendations for phased usage are now with the Ministry of Industry. This is not an easy switch for the common man. The Minister said we need to incentivise transitions that reduce emissions. She also met with an FAO Mission to the UN composed of Mr Dan Gustafson, Special Representatives to the DG and Nadine Valat, Head of the Green Climate Fund Unit alongside their team.

To identify future avenues for cooperation, the Minister for Climate Change reviewed the implementation of large projects in Pakistan and discussed ways to strengthen future avenues for collaboration. She stressed that Pakistan is the third most water-stressed country and we need to streamline mitigation with adaptation as mitigation cannot be done in isolation.

She said projects by GCF have proven to be instrumental in achieving mitigation, along with adaptation and with continued cooperation. She said we can together move towards a more sound water strategy in Pakistan, however there needs to be an effort to move from pilot projects which look good on paper towards the scaling up of outcomes.

She said the springless weather, blistering heatwaves and the temperatures in Dadu and Jacobabad are reminders of the immediate dangers of Climate Stress. The upcoming monsoon will provide little respite but we need to understand the ferocity and scale of the effects of climate change and the subsequent climate anxiety is unmatched in Pakistan, she added.

She said Climate Stress needs to be in the headlines not just when a disaster occurs. We can talk about how Pakistan contributes less than 1% to GHG emissions but the truth is there’s a fire in our backyard and we can’t ignore it, she mentioned.

She further elaborated the need for increasing public awareness on the urgency of climate actions, She said Pakistan needs to develop better technical and climate finance capacity immediately, and that is where the Bank can play a constructive role in unlocking global green funds for Pakistan.

Sherry Rehman said Pakistan is in the frontlines of a compounded climate catastrophe and we are facing a cascade of extreme weather events. “The climate clock is ticking and we need to explain the intensity of this climate crisis to our population and to our policy elites as well in order to move forward”, she concluded.