PM Shehbaz highlights Pakistan's climate change risks at COP27 summit

  • Expresses hope summit would prove to be a milestone in bringing climate justice
Updated 07 Nov, 2022

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday attended the Sharm El Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit (SCIS) where he robustly campaigned for the world’s action to address Pakistan’s climate change challenges, APP reported.

The heads of several governments, in their interaction with the premier on the sidelines of the mega climate change summit, termed his continued presence in flood-affected areas as an "extraordinary gesture", according to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

PM arrives in Egypt

The prime minister in his meetings with Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon, Indonesian Vice President Maruf Amin, Iraq’s President Abdul Rasheed Rashid, and Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati drew the attention of the international community to help Pakistan overcome the risks posed by climate change.

He highlighted the damage suffered by Pakistan in the wake of recent flash floods and emphasized transforming the key climate-related decisions into concrete actions and credible plans.

PM Shehbaz stressed that as a developing country, most affected by the phenomenon, Pakistan needed urgency of climate solidarity and climate justice.

The prime minister thanked the international community for helping the flood-struck people in Pakistan.

He also expressed hope that the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) would prove to be a milestone in bringing climate justice.

COP27 summit to begin with plea to discuss climate compensation

Delegates from nearly 200 countries kicked off the U.N. climate summit in Egypt on Sunday with an agreement to discuss compensating poor nations for mounting damage linked to global warming, placing the controversial topic on the agenda for the first time since climate talks began decades ago.

The agreement set a constructive tone for the COP27 summit in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where governments hope to keep alive a goal to avert the worst impacts of planetary warming even as a slew of crises - from a land war in Europe to rampant inflation - distract the international focus.

For more than a decade, wealthy nations have rejected official discussions on what is referred to as loss and damage, the term used to describe rich nations paying out funds to help poor countries cope with the consequences of global warming for which they bear little blame.

A United Nations report released last week showed global emissions on track to rise 10.6% by 2030 compared with 2010 levels.

Scientists say those emissions must drop 43% by that time to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures as targeted by the Paris Agreement of 2015 — the threshold above which climate change risks spinning out of control.

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