Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
Pakistan needs timely climate financing for a Just Energy Transition. Federal Minister Sherry Rehman said this in a meeting with a team of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
While presiding over an inter-ministerial meeting to discuss a clean energy transition with Yong Ye, Country Director Asian Development Bank (ADB) Sherry Rehman outlined the need to generate both resources and mechanism for a just energy transition that should be replicable and scalable to Pakistan.
The Federal Minister held that Pakistan was facing a severe energy shortage and it was essential both for public consumption and climate commitments, as well as in reducing Pakistan’s reliance on expensive, imported, dirty energy, to work on a framework and roadmap to such a transition.
“We need to urgently build a viable mechanism for higher reliance on clean energy, as coal and carbon intensive generation plants dominate Pakistan’s power grid,” said Sherry Rehman.
Moving away from them is now the only option for a sustainable future and an early retirement of inefficient fuel-based plants, without compromising the country’s financial and economic integrity, she further said.
Sherry Rehman requested the ADB to move forward on conducting a Transition Assessment for Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) to help Pakistan accelerate the move to clean power.
Yong Ye stressed that retirement of dirty energy power plants would not only decrease significant carbon emissions but would also unlock investments in renewable energy, storage, electric vehicles, and other clean technologies.
“During COP26, 90pc of the world, 154 representatives of global emissions, had put forward net zero targets but Pakistan was not among those countries. Carbon neutrality is a state of NET Zero CO2 emissions which can only be achieved by cutting down GHG to as close to zero as possible. While Net Zero pledges are commendable, they are not enough as Pakistan bears the burden of carbon emissions by rich countries. Climate catastrophe is here now and we have to collectively come together to take up this challenge.”
It was agreed that an initial transition assessment, to be carried out by ADB, will lead to a much larger feasibility study for a High-Carbon Replacement Fund (HCRF) aiming to replace coal and/or other high-carbon power generation with cleaner technologies in Pakistan.
Sherry Rehman requested the ADB to accelerate the feasibility study for a phased transition to clean energy. She stressed, “We must also remember that Pakistan should not be burdened with the financial costs of the transition in this climate emergency.
