The Ministry of Climate Change on Thursday submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) – a national carbon emission reduction strategy – to the United Nations Convention Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved on Thursday the national carbon emission reduction strategy.
In accordance with Article 2 of UNFCCC, the Parties to the Convention are required to achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.
Its Article 4 also accepts the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and equity which include, inter-alia, that the developed country Parties take actions for mitigation, finance and technology transfer to developing country Parties; while developing country Parties actions to include adaptation, mitigation, capacity-building and sustainable development (integration, including food security etc.).
Within this framework, 20th session of the Conference of the Parties of UNFCCC held last December in Lima required all its Parties to submit their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) the kind of commitments, contributions, and actions that Parties are considering to undertake in the period beyond 2020-2030to achieve the objectives of the Convention.
The Secretary Climate Change Ministry, Mr. Arif Ahmed Khan, said that though the country is amongst lowest emitters and accounts for less than 1% of the total global carbon emissions, it remains committed to the global efforts to reduce climate-altering carbon emission to tackle global warming and its impacts by adopting low-carbon development pathways particularly in in energy, agriculture, transport.
“But we do not want to compromise our national development trajectory to achieve economic growth, fight poverty and boost living standards of the people,” Mr. Arif Ahmed Khan emphasized.
He said that Pakistan’s INDC is rooted in Pakistan Vision 2025, which is a roadmap of economic growth, social inclusion and sustainable development aimed at transforming the country into a vibrant and prosperous nation by 2025.
The climate change secretary said that the country’s development needs are expected to grow, necessitating the requirement of affordable sources of power generation, development of infrastructure and enabling industry to take a lead role in meeting the transformation.
“Pakistan believes that all countries have a role to play in addressing climate change and that its contribution is fair and ambitious given its national circumstances. Pakistan will continue to push for a global agreement that addresses the challenges we face in a timeline that is necessary to prevent catastrophic climate change. And at the same time, expects that the developed countries would mobilize adequate funding and technology transfer to enable the developing countries to achieve INDCs,” the climate change secretary Mr. Arif Ahmed Khan said.
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