Pakistan seeks investment from Gulf countries in renewable energy

• The Prime Minister emphasizes that the Loss and Damage Fund must be operational immediately.
• He says the use of the funds should not be linked to development funds.
• “Everyone knows who has contributed in the last century.”

In an effort to address the issues of climate change, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Thursday stressed the need to immediately operationalize the Loss and Damage Fund and ensure its utilization.

At the start of the COP28 summit, a landmark decision marked the establishment of the fund, with the UAE committing $100 million to help developing and vulnerable countries facing natural disasters caused by climate change.

In an interview with CNN On the sidelines of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP28, the Prime Minister said that the use of the fund should not be linked to development funds and loans from multilateral financial institutions, but the funding should be additional and tangible.

Currently, Pakistan’s focus is on the transformation from coal-based power plants to renewable energy projects to help minimize the effects of climate change in the region and beyond.

“This is the area that could attract the interest of countries here for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the established economies and democracies on the western side, so it is an opportunity for all of them and all of us”, added the prime minister.

Prime Minister Kakar said that climate change is no longer a fashionable topic for discussion as it hit Pakistan very hard last year. He pointed out that Pakistan is not primarily responsible for contributing to the climate disaster in which the two provinces of the country Sindh and Balochistan faced historic disaster.

“Everyone knows who contributed in the last century, so it’s more a matter of honest discussion than judgment about countries and economies,” he observed.

Therefore, he said, responsibility shown by rich nations themselves would be a welcome step.

Responding to a question, the prime minister said: “If we wait for a UN framework, it will take years. Therefore, initially, it is possible to operate under the World Bank and other multilateral entities.”