Breathe Pakistan: World Bank climate change chief says too many will die waiting for global north to put money on the table
A global climate conference under DawnMedia’s ‘Breathe Pakistan’ initiative is under way right now at Islamabad’s Jinnah Convention Centre, bringing together experts and leaders to find solutions to climate change.
The two-day moot aims to make Pakistan climate-resilient by 2047 while fostering regional cooperation across South Asia, where countries face shared challenges of rising temperatures, water scarcity and increasing natural disasters.
10:48: World Bank climate change head speaks
Valerie Hickey, the global director for climate change at the World Bank, has begun addressing the event.
“There will be too many people who die if we wait for the global north to put on the table all of the money that they morally probably should,” Hickey says.
Referring to conversations under the Paris Agreement under the New Collective Quantified Goal, she said, “We’re great at coming up with acronyms on climate change — the NCQG.”
“To move from $100bn to $300bn. It sounds like a lot of money. It’s not. Most of it is in lending. It’s not in grants. Most of it is already there. It’s not addition.”
“I propose we change the name of this conference from Breathe Pakistan to Lead Pakistan,” says Hickey.
10:40am — Yahya addresses the event
Mohamed Yahya, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, is now addressing the event.
“Climate change is no longer a distant threat. It is happening now. […] As [UN chief] Antonio Guterres has recently stated ‘We are on the highway to the climate hell with out foots still on the accelerator’,” he said.
Noting that global emissions were still on the rise, he highlighted how extreme weather events such as droughts, wildfires and floods were becoming “more frequent, intense and more devastating”.
Recalling the 2022 monsoon floods which submerged one-third of the country under water, Yahya asserted: “A disaster of this magnitude should have been a wake-up call for the world, yet the emissions continue to rise.”
“We must demand climate finance that is predictable, accessible, adequate and fair. The era also of corporate and national impunity must come to an end. Our secretary-general has called on polluters to do more to be part of the solution.”
10:31 — Ahsan Iqbal says climate change ‘lived reality’
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has told the conference that climate change is not some distant challenge but a lived reality.
Referring to the Breathe Pakistan conference, Iqbal said it was not just a discussion [but] a call to action.
“We must move from awareness to impact, policy to execution and from independent efforts to collective responsibility,” the minister stressed.
Pointing out that climate change contributed to less than 1pc to global but still was among the most-affected nations, Iqbal said: “We have endured catastrophic floods, rapid glacial melts, scorching heat waves and crippling droughts — all intensifying in frequency and severity.”
“As the renowned environmentalist Wendell Berry once said, ‘The earth is what we all have in common’ and yet this common home is under siege. Not just in Pakistan but across the world.”
He also stressed that another stark reminder of our environmental crisis was smog, which has become a “recurring national emergency”. “Smog is not just a national issue it is also a cross-border challenge as air pollution knows no borders.”
10:26am — Hameed Haroon addresses the conference
Hameed Haroon, the CEO of the Dawn Media Group, is addressing the conference, alongside Nazafreen Saigol Lakhani, the CEO of Pakistan Herald Publications Private Limited (PHPL).
“The amplification [of Breathe Pakistan] becomes important when you come here because your views and interaction with Pakistani policymakers and NGOs is what will determine the mix of opinions that this country will talk about,” Haroon stressed.
“Climate change is not just an event. As Nazafreen’s idea […], it’s a belief, it’s an ideology and we hope to work with you in the next few years to make partial, if not highly achieved resilience through a very sharp system of climate mainstreaming, a reality.”
10:18am — Conference kicks off
The conference has begun, with the national anthem being played, followed by the recitation of the Holy Quran.
10:15am — Planning, information ministers arrive
Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Information Minister Attaullah Tarar have also reached the centre to attend the conference.
9:40 — Guests arrive at the venue
Guests have started to arrive at the Jinnah Convention Centre as the conference is set to begin.
Harjeet Singh, global engagement director for Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, has also arrived at the venue. He will be part of the third panel of The South Asian Symposium on Climate Change, which is scheduled from 3:30pm-6pm.
Speakers
The moot will witness a session on climate finance in which Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and two former State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governors will discuss the critical need for the finance required for adaptation and mitigation.
Valerie Hickey, global director for climate change at the World Bank, will also address this session. Hickey will also speak in a separate panel about climate mainstreaming and increasing adaptive capacities of countries vulnerable to climate change.
The conference will also have a roundtable to inspire dialogue between the government and the corporate sector and explore sustainable public-private partnerships, which will be attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, among others.
A session on agriculture, forestry, and food systems in climate change will be attended by agriculture and forestry experts at which Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative Florence Rolle, Climate Change Ministry Secretary Aisha Humera Chaudhry, and former climate change minister Malik Amin Aslam will speak.
In the concluding session of the conference tomorrow (February 7), former prime minister and Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani will address the audience.
Other speakers include climate expert Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, British High Commissioner Jane Marriott, Petroleum Minister Senator Musadik Malik, climate activist Karishma Ali, and youth activist Zunaira Qayyum Baloch, among others.