Green Compact: new era of Pak-UK climate leadership

As the world returns home from the COP30 summit in Brazil, global partnership on tackling climate change has never been more important.

Pakistan knows the urgency for action more than most. This year floods once again devastated the country. But by 2050, the damage caused by heatwaves and drought will outweigh damage caused by floods.

The UK is also feeling the impacts of climate change. While warmer summers were at first celebrated, the serious consequences of climate change have quickly become clear. In 2024, there were over 1,300 heat-related deaths in the UK. Unchecked, climate change could impact the UK's economic output by up to 7 per cent of GDP by 2050.

With only 10 years to meet the ambitious 2035 NDC targets we have all set, we must now translate our commitments into action. We are all stronger when we work together to tackle climate change, a truly global issue. That's what the Green Compact is all about.

The UK and Pakistan are both global leaders on climate action. The UK's COP26 Presidency led to the Glasgow Climate Pact. For the first time, global agreement was reached on the need to phase down fossil fuel use. Meanwhile Pakistan showed leadership of the G77 at COP27, leading to the agreement to establish a Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage. It is only natural that we bring our joint expertise to the table, and partner together to accelerate climate action.

Both our countries have shown, time and time again, that climate action is not just the right decision to make, it is the sensible business decision to make. Solar power is now 41 per cent cheaper than fossil fuels, and wind power is 53 per cent cheaper. Projections show that by 2035, the market for key clean technologies like solar, wind and electric vehicles could be on a par with today's global crude oil market. Both Pakistan and the UK are set to benefit from this, having been ahead of the curve on solar and wind respectively.

We are already firm friends and partners on climate. The UK's innovative climate finance programme is set to mobilise at least $560 million (Rs156.6 billion) in climate finance to support Pakistan's economic development and climate adaptation. Throughout its first year, the programme has been engaging with the private sector and government. Supporting a better regulatory environment for climate investment, and through the IFC, building a pipeline of green projects. Business is seeing that investing in climate is the smart thing to do.

The UK works in lockstep with the Government of Pakistan to build the resilience of the most vulnerable against climate change and has so far helped over 3 million people in Pakistan improve their resilience against climate disasters. We're training communities to recognise the early-warning signs of floods leading to early evacuations, and training Rescue 1122 volunteers who can respond to crises when they happen.

We've worked together to show that action on climate change is in everyone's interest. The UK has worked with farmers in Punjab to introduce soil moisture sensors which help them determine when their crops really need water. That's led to a significant improvement in water productivity, up to 25 per cent for some crops. We're expanding this work together by looking to manufacture these sensors locally, making this technology even more accessible.

Innovators and communities across Pakistan are already sharing their climate solutions and the UK is helping to catalyse these with funding. That includes supporting communities in Cholistan to use rainwater harvesting and bringing smarter, solar-powered irrigation to farmers in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The Green Compact will accelerate and strengthen this partnership, our own climate action, and set an example globally for best practice.

This is a new partnership achieving benefits for us both. Our regular dialogues will mean that we're sharing best practice on common challenges: for example, sharing best practice on aligning climate action across federal and provincial governments for Pakistan, and regional administrations and central government for the UK. We will mobilise more climate finance from all sources and identify opportunities for private investment. And we will create exchanges between leading academics or institutions to support skills development on both sides.

We both know that climate action is not optional: this is about safeguarding the future of our peoples. This partnership will bring together our expertise, our influence and our determination, giving us the tools we need to accelerate action, and be examples on the global stage. Together, we can turn the tide. Together, we can bring a greener and brighter future for the people of Pakistan, the UK and the world.