Islamabad: Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman in a telephonic conversation with United States President’s Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry said Pakistan continued to be among the 10 countries worst-affected by climate change and it had become an existential threat for the country.
We need to take urgent steps to get off the top-10 list, she said.
John Kerry had called Minister Sherry Rehman to learn about the challenges the country was facing in the climate sector and expressed his desire to work with Pakistan to tackle climate change issues.
Ground Zero of global climate catastrophe
She briefed him about the hazardous impacts of climate change Pakistan was facing. Already we are late and the disaster is at our doorsteps, she said, adding that recently the country suffered from unprecedented heat waves, critical glacial melt, drought, and forest fires.
Rehman apprised Senator Kerry about Pakistan’s accelerated vulnerability to the climate crisis, saying despite producing less than one percent of GreenHouse Gases (GHG) emissions Pakistan is now the ground zero of a global climate catastrophe.
Hottest April in 61 years
This year, summer came to Pakistan as early as April and according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department April 2022 turned out to be the hottest month in the last 61 years. The maximum temperature was recorded as 49°C in Jacobabad on April 30.
Sherry Rehman said while high climate ambition commitments are important, including Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that include an enormous energy transition, Pakistan faces down the costs of global warming at 9.1pc of its GDP, which is the highest in the region as identified by a recent UN-ESCAP 2022 report. The time to intervene is now, said she adding, water scarcity by 2025 was also a looming crisis if current trajectories continue.
Assistance in technical, financial sectors
Apprising Kerry on the NDCs, she remarked, “With the current global energy crisis, and the disruption in supply chains caused by the Ukraine war, including the invisible costs of the pandemic to climate vulnerable countries, energy transitions are facing an uncertain timeline, so technical and financial assistance is the need of the hour.
They also discussed a need for energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy and committed to a renewed working partnership between PAK-US.
They also talked about Pakistan’s commitment to a Global Methane Pledge and suggested cooperation on the path forward. Rehman appreciated the Biden administration’s commitments to global climate goals and thanked Senator Kerry for his strong personal leadership of these most defining challenges for the 21st century.
Later, in a tweet Sherry Rehman said her conversation with Kerry was productive and looked forward to working with him and his team on joint challenges both bilaterally and at global forums.
