It is high time that countries stopped “playing jokes with climate change” and trivializing the matter by taking token actions, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said in his speech at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
Referring to India, the PM’s aide asserted that the crisis of climate change cannot be remedied by merely “throwing pennies into the Trevi Fountain nor by announcing net-zero scams pushing into 2070”.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), the world’s most respected climate analysis coalition warned that temperature rises will top 2.4C by the end of this century, based on the short-term goals countries have set out.
That would far exceed the 2C upper limit the Paris accord said the world needed to stay “well below”, and the much safer 1.5C limit aimed for at the Cop26 talks.
Pakistan’s statements, for its part, highlighted the country’s efforts towards a decarbonized world. Aslam noted that under PM Khan’s green leadership, “our climate vision is built on these two pillars – shifting 60% of our energy mix towards clean energy by 2030 and 30% of our transport on EV by 2030 and of putting our trust and investment in “Nature-Based Solutions”.
Pakistan is not a part of the climate change problem
“We have announced to completely shift out of imported coal projects and are turning the CPEC into a China Pakistan Green Economic Corridor. Three financially closed coal projects of 2500 MW have been shelved in the last year and shifted to zero-carbon hydropower of 3700 MW.”
He said that Pakistan’s “Ten Billion Tree Tsunami” has now become a global brand for successful ecosystem restoration through natural regeneration and forest plantations – all sequestering carbon for the world.
He added that the Protected Areas Initiative in Pakistan, with 15 new national parks announced during the COVID time, is rapidly expanding and protecting the wilderness areas in the country. “Recharge Pakistan” initiative is turning “the crisis of floods into an opportunity by using it to restore our wetlands and recharge our groundwater aquifers”.
Pakistan has dropped its emissions 9% below business in 2020 and has developed a pathway to reach 15% below business by 2030 utilizing its own resources, Aslam explained.
He noted that with less than 1% of the global emissions, Pakistan is not a part of the problem of climate change. “However, we have chosen to be a part of the solution. Our NDC shows what is possible if a clear climate vision and strategic planning get positively aligned.
Story Courtesy: Express Tribune
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