EBM Executive Director Shahzain Munir stresses need to keep food affordable for masses.
The second and final day of DawnMedia’s ‘Breathe Pakistan’ global climate conference has begun on Friday, bringing together experts and leaders to find solutions to climate change with them calling for urgent funding to power adaptation initiatives to respond to threats posed by changing environmental and climatic conditions.
The moot aims to make Pakistan climate-resilient by 2047 while fostering regional cooperation across South Asia, where countries face shared challenges of rising temperatures, water scarcity and increasing natural disasters.
12:15pm — Zeeshan Sheikh, IFC Country Manager
12:07pm — Aasim Wajid Jawad, Group Head-Strategy, Transformation & Customer Experience, Bank Alfalah
Talking about the role of the banking sector in tackling environmental challenges and cliamate change, he said, “We are an important cog in the wheel, and very conscious about our social responsibility and safeguarding everyone’s deposits. So we have to ensure that the financial system remains sound. In the same way, we have to be caring towards our people and the communities that we live in.”
He said that Bank Alfalah was one of the largest donors to rehabilitate the flood affectees, making a donation of $10 million. “We invested a lot in getting people sustainable housing as we are very conscious about the environment”.
12:01pm — Nabila Yazdani, Head of Strategy, Communication & Sustainability, Zong CMPAK
“Our focus is on how we invest in our infrastructure which is energy sufficient and sustainable in the long run,” Yazdani said.
She also spoke on the steps taken by Zong to reduce carbon emissions such as solarisation and highlighted the importance of digitalisation.
11:55am — Danish Khaliq, VP Sales and Strategy, BYD / Mega Motor Company
“When we talk about the impact on emissions, when we specifically look at EVs, there is a reduction of 70 to 80pc in comparison to traditional vehicles. And plug-in hybrid vehicles, there is a 60pc reduction,” he said.
Speaking on BYD’s commitment towards the environment, he said, “There has been a carbon reduction of about 80 million tonnes from the switch over in EVs produced by BYD. That is equivalent 1.3 bn trees absorbing carbon from the environment.”
11:47am — Kate Wilson Hargreaves, Director Climate and Environment DAI UK
“I think the private sector has three big things that it can do to unblock climate finance challenges. To quote Valerie Hickey, we need to fix the plumbing, so the enabling environment for climate finance needs fixing and support,” Hargreaves said.
She highlighted the role of the private sector in fixing the environment for climate finance, creating high-quality pipeline of banking projects and unlocking barriers for marginalised groups.
11:38am — Shahzain Munir stresses need to keep food affordable for masses
“We have climate change as a challenge, and equally catastrophic is malnutrition and keeping food affordable for our masses. Climate change is not everyone’s problem: it’s predominantly a problem for the poor. And we have to face the facts,” the executive director of EBM said.
“The private sector will lead. The time for awareness is over, the time for projects is over. But we need the government to support us in keeping food affordable for our masses.”
11:28am — Fakhar Ahmed, Chief Corporate & Regulatory Officer, Jazz
Speaking on digitalisation, he said: “Tech companies have started to do a lot. Most companies are geared towards net zero ambition which is number one in the largest scope of things which is to reduce their carbon footprint.”
“All the tech and tech economy is powered by electricity and electricity comes from fossil fuels, batteries of lithium … So what do we do?”
Ahmed spoke about the role of tech companies in promoting early-warning systems, disaster mitigation, and actions to be taken in post-disaster situations.
He highlighted that technology companies can take the following measures: renewable energy, raise awareness, early warning system for climate disasters and post-disaster factors.
11:26am — Wajeeha Qamar, Parliamentary Secretary Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives
The government of Pakistan has revised its EV (Electric Vehicle) policy and a public-private partnership framework to encourage private sector investment in clean transportation.
Incentives have been developed to promote adoption of low-emission vehicles, and emission standards are also being developed to enforce regular emissions.
11:18 — Syed Babar Ali, Founder, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) speaks
He stressed the need for Pakistan to realise how important it is to save our water. “The industries can play a very important role in reducing the quantity of fresh water they use. The fresh water they use should be recycled to make sure not a drop of that is wasted.”
He noted that it is financially advantageous to recycle chrome found in the leather industry. Syed Babar Ali also called for greater education of farmers to use drip irrigation, for example, calling on the government to educate itself, after which the knowledged should be shared with industries and farmers.
“We still have more water than most countries in the world, and we should be grateful for what we have. We should look after it, preserve it. We are not harvesting our rainwater the way it can be done, both in the cities and elsewhere.”
11:13am — Muneer Kamal, CEO & Secretary General Pakistan Banks Association
Now Muneer Kamal (Former chairman of the board of directors of the Pakistan Stock Exchange) is speaking.
He quoted a COP23 report stating that Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable country as far as climate change was concerned. “This conference is a wake up call for us to do something,” he said, adding that there is a lot more left to be done to address this challenge.
“We have seen the impact of climate change in 2022. It is now globally accepted that what happened in 2022 in Pakistan through the massive floods was a direct result of climate change. And just within one year and a few months, a poor country like Pakistan lost about $12.5 billion — that’s staggering for a country that’s struggling to reach $2,000 per capita income.”
“Between 2023 and 2030, Pakistan need $348bn. If we do not address this aspect now, Pakistan by 2050 will have lost 18-20pc of its GDP.”
11:02am — Daud Munir takes the podium
Munir, a policy expert and senior legal practitioner, noted that climate change is a tough subject, one that’s high on the complexity scale. “It has impacts that emerge somewhere in the future and causes that may be based in countries or beyond borders. It is an issue that implores us to leave the present and think about future generations.
“The collaboration between public sector and private sector takes centre stage. It’s not a peripheral issue; to me it stands at the very centre of how the solution comes in,” Munir said.
He noted the need for a fundamental shift to tackle the climate problem, in a new interaction between the government and private sector. Munir acknowledged that the government has taken a facilitative turn. “Through the Public Private Partnership Authority, the P3A, there is now a fully functional formal avenue to foster the public private partnerships and dialogue, which is important as it exemplifies this fundamental shift in approach.”
11am — Session on govt, private sector dialogue on climate resilience
10:40am — Break
The conference is currently on a break, stay tuned for more live updates.
10:27am — Abdullah Fadil says mobilising young people crucial in fight against climate change
The Unicef Representative in Pakistan questioned how best to utilise social media to mobilise young people in the fight against climate change. He highlighted the need to take concrete action to make an impact in Pakistan, especially through community and grassroots initiatives.
“Educating young people and making sure school curriculums include how to protect the climate and have ownership of this issue is crucial,” the Unicef representative said.
He emphasised the need to establish a “national volunteer court” focusing on young people aged 15 to 24, that could mobilise millions of young people to work through the Indus River in terms of restoration and cleaning.
Speaking about broader solutions, he said, “How do we get out of this conference and mobilise these millions of young people, particularly those who are not in education and training? But also for those who are in education and training, how do we combine all of this energy and resources to make an impact in Pakistan? That is, I think, a call to action.”
10:20am — Florence Rolle highlights importance of restoring Indus Basin
The FAO representative in Pakistan spoke on the importance of the Indus ecosystem, calling the Punjab government’s efforts the “engine” for the global and national push for rehabilitating and restoring the Indus basin.
“The focus today for the Indus Basin is about restoration; It’s not only about protection of the whole ecosystem,” she said. “You need to harness the creativity, energy and mobilisation of people” urging the need for “citizenship-led development”.
10:14am — Aban Marker Kabraji speaks on Living Indus
The project began from the call by the UN Secretary General on the triple planetary crisis; the crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. She noted the need to focus on the source of sustenance in Pakistan — water.
Kabraji went on to say that since we live in an “extremely unpredictable situation”, we must plan within the context of unpredictability, calling the Living Indus programme Pakistan’s adaptation plan for the future.
9:58am — Romina Khurshid Alam welcomes Zunaira Qayyum Baloch
The Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Climate Change noted that Pakistan stands at a defining moment in its climate journey. “As a country on the frontline of climate change, we face mounting challenges, extreme weather patterns, water scarcity and environmental degradation.”
However, Pakistan is not defined by these challenges alone, she went on to say. “We are defined by our resilience and our ability to overcome adversity,” she said. “We are not merely passive victims of climate change, we are active participants in foraging solutions.”
She highlighted that this was a question of justice; “Pakistan is paying the price of something created by others”. Alam added that the devastating loss of life and critical infrastructure in the recent floods is all the more reason that Pakistan must leave no stone unturned in its effort to rescue, rehabilitate and rebuild.
9:32am — Senior minister Marriyum Aurangzeb speaks on Punjab’s first climate resilience policy
The senior minister has dedicated her keynote address to speaking about the Punjab climate experience over the past 12 months. “We had to take a comprehensive, holistic, integrated, multisectoral approach towards climate resilience across Punjab,” she said while addressing severe floods, heatwaves, hazardous air quality and water shortages in South Punjab.
Punjab has formulated its first climate resilience policy through the lens of adaptation and mitigation, with climate justice being central to the policy. A total of Rs10 billion has been allocated to smog mitigation, while Rs100bn has been allocated to climate resilience projects across Punjab.
While noting that climate change transcends borders, Aurangzeb unveiled that Pakistan has begun its dialogue with India and written a letter to the foreign ministry to initiate dialogue with countries in the region that have a direct impact on the air quality.
9:27am — Planning, Development & Special Initiatives For Pakistan Ahsan Iqbal
The planning minister suggested that the United Nations create some form of a global environmental tax for polluters, and from that tax, the money should be used as a fund to help countries in the Global South meet the challenges of climate change.
Day one of the moot began at 10am and concluded past 6pm at Islamabad’s Jinnah Convention Centre after a marathon session of discussions, keynote addresses, and speeches by various experts and dignitaries elaborating on issues, challenges, opportunities and solutions related to climate change and pollution.
Speakers
The conference will have a roundtable to inspire dialogue between the government and the corporate sector and explore sustainable public-private partnerships, which will be attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, among others.
A session on agriculture, forestry, and food systems in climate change will be attended by agriculture and forestry experts at which Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative Florence Rolle, Climate Change Ministry Secretary Aisha Humera Chaudhry, and former climate change minister Malik Amin Aslam will speak.
In the concluding session of the conference today (February 7), former prime minister and Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani will address the audience.
Other speakers include climate expert Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, British High Commissioner Jane Marriott, Petroleum Minister Senator Musadik Malik, climate activist Karishma Ali, and youth activist Zunaira Qayyum Baloch, among others.
For our Day 1 coverage, read more here.
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