Matter of policy: Carbon footprint takes centre stage at meeting

All stakeholders should be taken on board for INDC report preparation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) Committee has updated the National Carbon Emissions Inventory after a lapse of five years.

Ministry of Climate Change Deputy Secretary, Sajjad Haider Yaldram shared this during INDCs progress review committee meeting on Monday.

The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Climate Change Zahid Hamid. The National Carbon Emissions Inventory was prepared in 2011. DS Yaldram discussed points of the report and said the key parameters were rooted in Vision 2025. Official policy targets were set in the context of the Pakistan National Climate Change Policy and National Policy on Disaster Risk Reduction. Besides that, energy supply from diverse sources and optimising the mix were key considerations. A voluntary and ambitious commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is also required.

The participants of the meeting were told that analysed data was received from provincial governments and other stakeholders. The data calculates the abatement cost of these initiatives.

Greenhouse reductions, proposed on the basis of support from international climate financing, are the key consideration of the report.

Yaldram added that the terms of reference, as provided by the Prime Minister in 2015, include the establishment of the Reference Case Scenario.

They further determine the emission level to undertake the projection for the future based on the government’s growth programmes and measures.

They also review the current mitigation action and programmes. He also talked about the challenges faced during the study, including data gaps and inconsistencies, unaligned growth targets of different sectors, unclear road map with respect to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the time constraint to carry out the study.

The Minister for Climate Change was also told about the approach and methodology based on Intergovernmental Penal on Climate Change guidelines which were adopted in six economic sectors, including energy, transport, agriculture, industry, forestry and  waste.

Adaptation and mitigation options, based on government interventions during the given period, were also discussed. He said this report would be sent to all stakeholders for authentication and verification by relevant ministries and departments.

Members of INDCs’ committee were present on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2016.