Climate change: Senate committee pushes for ‘stronger’ renewable energy, EV initiatives

The Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change pressed for stronger renewable energy (RE) and electric vehicle (EV) initiatives to combat climate crisis in a meeting on Wednesday, an official statement stated.

The committee, led by Senator Sherry Rehman, convened to assess Pakistan’s climate strategy, focusing on RE, EV, and water scarcity.

During the meeting, Senator Rehman “criticised Pakistan’s lagging EV production, noting that only 60,000 EVs have been produced against a 600,000 target”, the statement read.

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She also highlighted that the transport sector “contributes 48% to air pollution, making EV adoption critical”.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industries faced scrutiny during the meeting for “lacking data on local EV production and charging stations”, as per the press release.

Pakistan aims to install 3,000 EV charging stations by 2030, but only eight have been established, the meeting was told.

“While over 1,000 individuals have registered to set up new stations, Senator Rehman urged faster expansion. She also called on banks to introduce EV financing to enhance accessibility.

The committee also urged stronger incentives for solar, wind, and hydro energy investment, while lauding the closure of five costly, high-emission furnace oil power plants (2,500 MW capacity).

Senator Rehman stressed solar-powered irrigation as a solution, given the “harmful effects of current drip irrigation systems”.

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Federal Minister for Power Sardar Owais Leghari and other stakeholders briefed the committee on progress and challenges. He emphasised plans to convert two- and three-wheelers, along with diesel vehicles, to electric.

The committee recommended to expand EV charging stations and incentivise private investment, promote renewable energy adoption in homes and businesses, ramp up local EV production to meet policy targets, enforce energy-efficient building codes nationwide, and encourage energy-efficient transport, and public transit use.