Climate-vulnerable developing countries: Pakistan urges world to ensure grant-based, predictable financing

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has urged the international community to ensure rapid, grant-based and predictable financing for climate-vulnerable developing countries, warning that repeated extreme weather events were deepening debt distress and slowing development progress in nations least responsible for global emissions, said a statement issued here on Sunday.

The call was made at a high-level side event titled “Operationalising Loss and Damage: Financing Resilience and Recovery in Vulnerable Countries” organised jointly by the Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Ministry and UNICEF at the Pakistan Pavilion on the sidelines of the UN climate summit (COP30) in Belem, Brazil.

In her keynote address, Secretary for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Aisha Humera Moriani said Pakistan was investing heavily in strengthening national climate resilience, despite contributing less than one percent to global greenhouse gas emissions.

She recalled that the devastating floods of 2022 and 2025 displaced millions, destroyed large-scale infrastructure and caused multi-billion-dollar economic losses.

“The scale and frequency of such disasters in developing countries underscore the disproportionate climate burden placed on nations that played almost no role in heating the planet,” she remarked.

The event, organised jointly with UNICEF, brought together representatives of the newly created Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), government officials, development partners and experts to discuss practical steps for operationalising the global Loss and Damage architecture.

Ministry Spokesperson Muhammad Saleem Shaikh said a major focus of the discussion was directing support towards the most vulnerable segments, particularly children and young people. He noted that non-economic losses, mainly as trauma, cultural disruption, displacement and the breakdown of community structure, remained under-addressed in global policy frameworks.

Shaikh added that Pakistan announced its readiness to submit two proposals under the FRLD’s initial funding cycle, aimed at reconstruction of critical social infrastructure and strengthening resilience in key sectors, including agriculture, community systems and water resources. While Pakistan continued to mobilise domestic resources, he said, the scale of loss far outstripped national capacity.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025