Pakistan's Minister for Climate Change Musadik Masood Malik has called on the global community to take immediate collective action to combat the impacts of climate change. In his speech on Sunday, he stressed that Pakistan was among the most vulnerable countries in the world, despite contributing less than 1 percent of global emissions.
"We need to invest in **resilient infrastructure, water management, emergency preparedness and climate-smart agriculture," Malik said, referring to the devastating 2022 floods that affected millions of people. He recalled that melting glaciers, fluctuating rainfall and rising temperatures are already threatening the country's water and food security and overall economic stability.
The Minister outlined domestic measures: Pakistan wants to increase the share of renewables to 60 % by 2030, promote electromobility and natural carbon capture solutions. However, he stressed that it cannot do this without financial and technological assistance from richer countries.
He said it was essential to get the Loss and Damage Fund, to which the developed countries have committed to contribute, up and running. "This is a climate justice issue. The weakest cannot bear the biggest burden," Malik said.
Pakistan thus delivers a strong warning to the world: climate change is not a threat of the future, but of the present. And its consequences hit first and hardest those who did not cause it.
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