Media persons learn best practices in green energy by Denmark govt
Zubair Qureshi Copenhagen
Pakistan is one of the top ten countries in the world which are the worst-hit by effects of climate change. Daily, there is the news of forest fires in Islamabad and elsewhere while glacial melting is already becoming a monumental threat and could cause floods in coming months. In the winter season, too, we have smog that lasts for months without any pause.
In order to meet these challenges, the country needs to take some drastic measures and re-draft its energy policy. To begin with Pakistan should reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and go for green energy, meaning thereby, wind, solar and hydro as clean sources of energy.These views were expressed by a number of Danish energy experts and specialists during their interaction with the Pakistani media persons during their recent visit to Denmark. The Pakistan media persons toured the country under Denmark Embassy’s initiative “Advocacy on Climate Change & Green Transition” and learnt the best practices adopted by Denmark’s government to achieve its goal of becoming 100pc carbon-free country by 2030.
Pakistan, they said, is a wonderful country of huge resources. The country’s current population (220 million) makes it the 5th most populated country in the world and its population is expected to grow to 340 million by the end of 2050.
The sooner the country realizes the importance of climate mitigation and adaptation, the better, said they.
Pakistan has also set an ambitious roadmap to green energy however, despite its green energy ambitions and adopted policies to achieve them, power outages are a serious issue in the country.
In August, 2020, the then government of Prime Minister Imran Khan had approved the policy of alternative and renewable energy in Pakistan i.e., to progress from the current share of the 4pc renewable energy in the total energy mix of the country to 20pc by 2025 and 30pc by 2030 (excluding hydro).Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government realizing the importance of green energy has also announced that the government would continue to pursue renewable and alternative sources of energy which are now a preference for almost every country in the world apart from a few oil producing nations.The Pakistani media persons during their visit to the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) were briefed by Special Adviser, DEA, Nadeem Niwaz, who is a Danish expert of Pakistani origin. He said Denmark was assisting the Pakistani energy experts in capacity building and technical knowledge and so far three such sessions have been held by the Danish experts in Pakistan. We are working with 22 countries in green energy, yet our permanent collaboration is with 19 countries regarding transition from black energy to green energy, he said.
Denmark, he said, is a global leader in off-shore and on-shore wind energy technology and the same it plans to assist Pakistan in. In Pakistan’s Sindh and Punjab provinces, certain corridors have been identified for installation of wind turbines and the current Pakistani government is keen to carry forward the project as it concerns the future of the country.
