Pakistan ranked 5th most vulnerable country to climate change: Tirmizi

ABU DHABI: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Faisal Niaz Tirmizi extended gratitude to the International Renewable Energy Agency and the UAE for organising the 14^th session of the IRENA Assembly in Abu Dhabi.

The Ambassador also applauded Director General Francesco La Camera for his leadership and initiatives taken by IRENA towards cleaner and greener future.

“The world is witnessing a rapid change in energy landscapes to tackle the climate change and its impacts. Climate change poses gravest threat to human health and global economy. It is significant for countries like Pakistan that recently faced super floods in year 2022, resulting in loss of innocent lives, displacement of millions of people and economic cost of billions of dollars,” highlighted Tirmizi while speaking on the occasion.

He further said that according to the Global Climate Risk Index, Pakistan is ranked as the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change even though the share of contribution of Pakistan in terms of emissions is far less as compared to other developed and developing countries.

“There is a need to fulfill commitments for climate finance to ensure the implementation of climate change actions by developing countries. We need to build upon the successful outcome of COP28, generously hosted by the government of the UAE last year. UAE’s stewardship led to important decisions including the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund,” Ambassador Tirmizi said.

He said that Pakistan intends to take the share of clean renewables including hydropower to at least 60 percent by 2030. This will not only help in ensuring energy equity, affordability, sustainability but will also result in significant reduction of emissions from the power sector, he added.

The Ambassador emphasised that the global energy transition must be just, inclusive, and equitable. The developing countries require support to move towards a greener future. International cooperation must be scaled up to catalyse financing and investment to accelerate energy transitions in developing countries.

Tirmizi urged IRENA members to devise strategies that ensure access to grants and concessional financing to achieve the goal of swift, just, and equitable transition.