Climate change and Karachi

A new UN report has warned of the acute danger of an "urban heat effect" on several large cities, including Karachi, raising new concerns about how the cash-strapped government will prevent or mitigate urban climate disasters. The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, in its Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2025, identified Karachi among nine major Asia-Pacific megacities projected to become "substantially hotter", primarily due to rapid, unplanned urbanisation and strained infrastructure creating the urban heat island effect, where dense construction, concrete and asphalt absorb and retain heat, pushing city temperatures anywhere from 2°C to 7°C higher than surrounding areas less-developed areas.

The burden of this urban crisis will also not fall equally on citizens, as the UN assessment makes clear that children, the elderly and outdoor workers living in congested, low-income neighbourhoods will suffer the most, even though the people profiting from these dangerous conditions are mostly ultra-rich individuals and businesses that may not even be based in those cities.

Even among local residents, wealthier residents of green enclaves and well-designed housing societies may not be particularly phased by rising temperatures, but poorer city residents in densely populated areas will see the existing lack of access to reliable electricity for cooling, adequate water and healthcare worsen. The report also warns of nationwide droughts that will not only make urban areas hotter and reduce water availability, but also hit agriculture hard, turning several fertile areas arid and potentially unusable for crops currently grown there.

While Pakistan can't tackle climate change on its own, Islamabad and provincial leaders need to emphasise long-term, science-based strategies that place extreme heat at the centre of urban planning and multi-hazard disaster management. This requires investing in heat-ready early warning systems, strengthening public healthcare and implementing nature-based solutions, such as expanding green spaces, to counter the urban heat island effect.