ISLAMABAD: Pakistan faces an estimated climate finance gap of USD348 billion by 2030, requiring substantial concessional financing, private investment and access to international carbon markets to build climate resilience, accelerate the clean energy transition and support sustainable, export-led economic growth, Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Industries Rana Ihsaan Afzal Khan said on Wednesday.
Addressing the 29th Sustainable Development Conference organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), he said Pakistan needed to move beyond policy formulation towards implementation through its Climate Prosperity Plan, Pakistan Green Taxonomy and a multi-sectoral country platform to align international climate financing with national priorities.
He urged the international community to move beyond commercial lending and fulfil its historical climate responsibilities through loss and damage funds and multilateral concessional financing, saying climate justice meant financing the transition rather than merely demanding it.
Highlighting Pakistan’s progress in renewable energy, he said the country imported more solar capacity than any other country in 2024, while distributed solar supplied over a quarter of national electricity in 2025.
Pakistan had also imported around 4.5 gigawatts of battery storage equipment during the preceding six months.
The government was preparing a policy to encourage local battery manufacturing and position Pakistan as a regional manufacturing hub. The Auto Policy 2026-31 and Electric Vehicle Policy aimed to achieve 30 percent EV penetration by 2030, generating projected economic savings of over USD15 billion.
He said that Pakistan’s Accelerated Vehicle Electrification (PAVE) programme was providing subsidies for electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers, while Pakistan had secured 15th position in the 2026 Climate Change Performance Index and submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 3.0.
Rana Ihsaan said Pakistan was targeting 6 percent sustainable, export-driven GDP growth, with renewable energy and green agriculture contributing towards the ambition of expanding the economy to USD1 trillion by 2035.
Hamza Ali Haroon, Regional Director for South and West Asia at CVF-V20, said Pakistan’s Climate Prosperity Plan had been expanded from 69 projects worth USD4.5 billion to 100 projects costing USD8.5 billion. The revised plan had been submitted to the Finance Ministry, while the broader initiative envisaged mobilising USD1.6 trillion by 2050.
He said six operational models had been developed following consultations with ministries and stakeholders, stressing that national ownership, implementation capacity and investment expertise were essential for making the proposed country platform effective.
Adviser to the Finance Minister Adnan Pasha said the Finance Division would lead the institutional architecture for climate finance mobilisation and facilitate projects undertaken by federal ministries and provincial governments.
Under the proposed mechanism, provincial projects would be routed through respective Planning and Development Departments before prioritisation by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination. The Finance Division would develop the financial architecture, while the Economic Affairs Division and External Finance Wing would facilitate engagement with development partners.
Dr Muhammad Rafiq of the Pakistan Climate Change Authority (PCCA) said climate initiatives were scattered across federal ministries and provincial institutions, creating gaps in data, governance, planning and budgeting. The proposed country platform would integrate existing frameworks, including the Finance Ministry’s Sustainable Finance Framework and the Planning Ministry’s Blended Finance Framework. The proposal had been submitted to the Green Climate Fund, with a decision expected next week.
In another session on integrated economic governance, participants called for shifting from crisis-driven management towards sustainable, export-led growth through policy consistency, institutional reforms and greater private-sector investment.
Economist Khaqan Najeeb identified a competence crisis in the public and private sectors and criticised Pakistan’s repeated dependence on IMF programmes, saying the country had entered 25 programmes over 79 years without resolving its structural weaknesses.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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