Can Pakistan afford the EU reverting to dirty fuel? No

KARACHI:

With Western sanctions taking affect after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February this year, the US and EU nations have boycotted buying gas/RLNG from Russia. This, however, took gas prices skyrocketing to unaffordable levels in the global markets.

At present, the world is in the tight grip of an energy crisis with recession and climate change fears looming. In an attempt to overcome the energy crisis chokehold, however, EU countries have increased reliance on cheaper coal-fired power plants, shelving their commitment to phase out the use of dirty fuels.

But the cost of this war, these sanctions and their resulting climate affects seem to rest squarely on the shoulders of developing nations like Pakistan that are already struggling.

It is no secret that the effects of climate change are becoming evident all around the world. In Pakistan, heavy rainfalls and flash floods wreaked havoc, resulting in the death of over 1,500 people, followed by internal displacement of eight million people which resulted in the rapid spread of diseases in camps and economic damages of over $30 billion. Just the series of events shows the resounding impact of climate change.

While this should serve as a wakeup call, this is also not the first time it has happened.

In the 2015 heatwave, the country lost 2,000 lives and faced severe flooding in 2010, both events primarily driven by man-made climate changes.

In 2021, at the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, the world promised to phase out the use of dirty fossil fuels. Before that, the world promised the same resulting in the Paris Agreement of 2016.

Interestingly, just earlier this week, Reuters reported that “some countries are reopening mothballed coal plants to secure enough energy for this winter, while others are boosting production, as they seek considerable profits from exports.”

A study published in February 2019 called “The Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans” stated that “in the Western Balkans, there are 16 outdated coal power plants that cause 3,000 premature deaths, 8,000 cases of bronchitis in children, and other chronic illnesses costing both health systems and economies a total of 6.1-11.5 billion euros every year.” The study says, “air pollution, from fossil-fuelled power plants or other emitters, knows no borders.” It went on to then commend the EU action on the Western Balkans, saying it “will improve health and increase economic prosperity across Europe”.

A report by Pakistan-based Alliance for Climate Justice and Clean Energy (ACJCE), published in May 2020, states that “the power plants and mines (in Tharparkar, Sindh) would be responsible for a projected 29,000 air pollution-related deaths over an operating life of 30 years, 40,000 asthma emergency room visits, 19,900 new cases of asthma in children, 32,000 preterm births, 20 million days of work absence (sick leave) and 57,000 years lived with disability related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and stroke.”

In a conversation with Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director for the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), he said that the European countries in recession have found coal to be the quickest and easiest alternative to Russian gas. He said that Pakistan too could opt to make use of its coal-fired power plants in case the country failed to procure gas from the global markets at an affordable price. He warned, however, that the most visible signs of climate change in Pakistan, just this year, were that we didn’t have a spring season. And the heat wave appeared earlier than expected, reducing wheat output and destroying the mango crop in Punjab. Soon after that, the monsoon season came and the melting glacier emerged. It also rained seven to eight times more than average, flooding the country.

And all of this took place in a small developing country like Pakistan only whose contribution to global greenhouse emissions stands at less than 1%.

At the end Suleri said we need to bring our house in order to control carbon emissions but this cannot be done without the cooperation of some of the largest perpetrators in the world. Demanding climate justice he said the least that the world’s polluters can do is compensate for the losses being incurred in developing countries like Pakistan.

Last week, however, former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail revealed that ambassadors of the European nations have said that Pakistan should not expect any climate reparations whatsoever. Alas!

Needless to say, the floods in Pakistan, Florida’s Hurricane Ian, the summer drought and heat waves in Europe all are a result of the toxic gases that have been (and continue to be) released into the environment, primarily by industrially developed nations.

While we can’t be certain of the damage this reversion to dirty fuel will cause, given the nature of events being witnessed, we can be sure that each time an event plays out it is more severe than the last. And it is evident, now more than ever, that the long-term answer to the energy (and climate) crisis lies in renewable energy sources like hydel, solar and wind projects.

The writer is a staff correspondent

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2022.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.