HYDERABAD: Dr Ismail Kumbhar from Sindh Agriculture University while addressing to the people assembly on "Green financing for sustainable development" has said that there is need to consider local climate change challenges and ecological zonal mapping of Sindh province into the planning and implementation of interventions. The event was organized by Sindh Community Foundation in cooperation with Indus Consortium and Grow Green Network Pakistan at Sindh Agriculture University. A large number of students of the university attended the event.

He said current federal government and provincial government had prioritized financing in energy sector and many clean energy corridors have been identified in the country and new projects are in foundation phase.

He also appreciated that current government has increased climate-related budget. Javed Hussain, Executive Director of Sindh Community Foundation was the view that Pakistan is worst affected by change in climate. He said that private finance is very important to achieve the net zero emission target set under Paris Climate Agreement and national targets set by current government.

He further said that the banks in Pakistan should follow the guidelines of the green financing and other international commitments including equator principles and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards. He said that many environmental laws and protocols already exists in Pakistan but none is adhering to these laws and developing projects without or very poor Environmental Impacts Assessments (EIAs) and do not consider the suggestions and recommendations of so-called EIAs. A strong enforcement of laws, SOPs and protocols are required at government level, without this all efforts will be wasted, he mentioned.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021