Pakistan’s climate change actions can serve as model

UK government’s COP26 Regional Ambassador to Asia-Pacific and South Asia Ken O'Flaherty has said actions for tackling climate change being planned in Pakistan could serve as a model for the rest of the world.

“This can increase pressure on those countries which are not yet doing enough to tackle climate change,” said the UK diplomat, who is visiting the country as part of the preparations for the COP26 meeting in Glasgow in November this year, in an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune.

“Pakistan is a world leader in the area of tackling climate change. It has an opportunity to cement its status as a regional and global leader on the issue.”

The United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) will be a meeting, where leaders from across the world will discuss how they can ensure greater action on climate change.

“I think the messages coming from Prime Minister Imran Khan are very clear, they are very cogent,” Ken said, “They make economic sense for Pakistan and carry a moral weight as its position of a developing country.”

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Ken said in his visits around Asia, he often quoted Pakistan’s 10 billion tree tsunami initiative and also the commitment by PM Imran to not build any new coal plants.

He added that he was very optimistic about the direction in which Pakistan was traveling, saying PM Imran had set out ambitious plans, both in terms of adaptation through the 10 billion trees tsunami initiative and on the energy transition.

In response to PM Imran’s article in The Times that COP26 will end in failure without a financial plan, Ken said that it was clear that action on mitigation and on adaptation required significant climate finance internationally.

“A large part of the finance for action on climate change will have to come from the private sector but there’s also a very important role for public finance.”

Five years ago in Paris, the ambassador recalled, it was agreed that the international donor community would provide $100 billion for international climate finance every year but that was not the case when UK took up the presidency role.

The latest analysis showed around $79 billion was donated, he said, adding that the forum was encouraged by the progress in the last few months.

Lauding new commitments from Canada and Japan at the last G7 meeting, Ken said the US’ announcement last week that it will double its annual international climate financing to $11 billion every year was significant.

“The UK tried to lead by example and also doubled its share,” Ken noted. “We are working very hard to make sure that $100 billion goal is met.”

To a question about whether the developed countries should do more on climate change than asking other countries, he said: “I think my answer will be a resounding yes.”

From the UK COP26 presidency perspective, Ken said that it was not about trying to impose any development model on Pakistan.

On the contrary, he said, it is clear today that in the vast majority of countries worldwide, it is cheaper to be investing in renewable energy than to be investing in fossil fuels and “we know that the Pakistan government recognises that fact.”

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Ken said the UK was ready to help Pakistan navigate climate change challenges by sharing technical expertise and how it and others had managed their energy transition.

To the criticism that COP26 is already a failure, he said it was certainly not the majority view, adding that over 100 world leaders had confirmed their presence at COP26 in Glasgow. “COP26 will be a major world event and we would expect that momentum to continue beyond,” he said.

On the political will to tackle climate change challenges, Ken said politicians and leaders worldwide were recognising the importance that there is much more to be done, both in terms of emissions and in terms of finance and other issues.

Being optimistic about many governments worldwide recognizing the importance of taking action on climate change, he said Japan, South Korea, China, Sri Lanka and Malaysia had fixed net zero targets, which gave a clear sense of direction in the long term as well as in the short term. “All G7 states have now fixed net zero targets by 2050,” he said.

 “The Asia-Pacific region is particularly crucial to this as the region is the dynamo of the world's economy.  The decisions made notably on energy policy in this region largely determines whether the world is able to meet that 1.5 degree Celsius target.”