CT Newsroom
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended the 29th United Nations Climate Conference also known as COP29 in Baku. In the opening speech of the Climate Finance Roundtable Conference on Tuesday, Shehbaz Sharif called for ‘redefining’ the global climate finance framework to efficiently fulfill the needs of vulnerable nations.
As per details, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif left Yesterday for Azerbaijan from Islamabad to participate in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) under the title ‘World Leaders Climate Action Summit’.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired the Climate Finance Roundtable Conference of COP29. In the opening statement, Shehbaz welcomed the participants and explained the purpose of the conference to develop new thinking on an old problem that was becoming complicated on all the international climate forums without yielding substantial results.
He briefed the participants about the severe effect of climate change on developing countries having lack resources to combat environmental threats effectively.
The PM explained that he understands the critical climate challenges faced by other developing countries as Pakistan has experienced from devastating floods to deadly smog in recent years.
In the opening speech of the Climate Finance Roundtable Conference of COP29, Shehbaz Sharif called on the global community to obey the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) principles.
He laid down the stress on the developed states to take effective and efficient steps and provide necessary support in terms of technical support and by establishing specialized climate funds for achieving meaningful results.
Shehbaz Sharif called climate financing an ‘urgent need of the hour’ and that the estimated amount required by the developing states is around 6.8 trillion dollars by 2030 and this amount is less than half to implement their current Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
The need to continue the emphasis on non-debt financing solutions as debt cannot become the “acceptable new normal”. The PM referred to them as “death traps”.
He further said, ‘to spur some transparency and coordination into the financial commitments made to the developing countries on climate transfers, Pakistan alongside many other developing countries call for stronger, more equitable climate finance mechanisms under the UNFCCC’.
He underscored the crucial requirement to develop momentum for reforming international financial architecture, “forging a path where no nation is left behind in the global response to climate change”
He called the donor countries to fulfill their commitment of providing 0.7% of their gross national income to developing states in the form of climate assistance.
Shehbaz Sharif shows disappointment for not achieving the objectives of the UN framework on Climate Change.
It is worth mentioning here that PM called for ‘redefining’ the global climate finance framework to efficiently fulfill the needs of vulnerable nations. He proposed a mechanism be set up to measure the unfulfilled pledges of climate funds to developing countries. “What I call INDCs whereby major historic emitters should account for climate finance commitments for both mitigation and adaptation pledges reflecting their proportionate responsibilities,” he added.
