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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan called on the international community on Sunday to ensure quick,&nbsp;grant-based and predictable financing for climate-vulnerable developing countries, Secretary for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Aisha Humera Moriani said. Moriani spoke at a high-level side event titled &quot;Operationalizing Loss and Damage: Financing Resilience and Recovery in Vulnerable Countries,&quot;&nbsp;warning that repeated extreme weather events were deepening debt distress and slowing development progress in nations least responsible for global emissions. She stated that Pakistan was investing heavily in strengthening national climate resilience despite contributing less than 1% to global greenhouse gas emissions. The devastating floods of 2022 and 2025 displaced millions, destroyed large-scale infrastructure, and caused multi-billion-dollar economic losses.&nbsp; &quot;The scale and frequency of such disasters in developing countries underscore the disproportionate climate burden placed on nations that played almost no role in heating the planet,&quot; she said. The Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Ministry and UNICEF organized the event at the Pakistan Pavilion during the UN climate summit.&nbsp; Representatives of the newly created Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, government officials, development partners, and experts attended the event. They discussed practical steps for operationalizing the global Loss and Damage architecture. Panel speakers noted that repeated climate shocks had pushed many vulnerable economies into what they described as a &quot;debt emergency.&quot; Countries are forced to borrow for recovery and reconstruction in the absence of adequate grant-based support. New, additional, and concessional financing is essential if Loss and Damage assistance is to be transformative rather than short-term, they argued. Speakers noted how the children bore the heaviest share of the crisis. Pakistan has nearly half of its population below the age of 18.&nbsp; Moriani warned that recurring disasters were undermining nutrition, health, schooling, and mental wellbeing. &quot;Climate disasters are not only destroying infrastructure, they are also robbing a generation of its right to safety and opportunity,&quot; she said. Speakers stated that the Barbados Implementation Modalities must be prioritized to ensure timely and equitable financing for countries with limited fiscal room. This includes simplified application procedures, faster disbursement mechanisms, and flexible financial windows. They called for mechanisms that could respond effectively to slow-onset threats such as glacial melt, sea level rise, and desertification, in addition to sudden disasters. The Spokesperson for the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, Saleem Shaikh, said a major focus of the discussion was directing support toward the most vulnerable segments, particularly children and young people. He stated how non-economic losses, mainly trauma, cultural disruption, displacement, and the breakdown of community structure, remained under-addressed in global policy frameworks. He said that Pakistan was ready to submit two proposals under the FRLD&#39;s initial funding cycle. The proposals aim at the reconstruction of critical social infrastructure and strengthening resilience in key sectors, including agriculture, community systems, and water resources. He noted how, while Pakistan continued to mobilize domestic resources, the scale of loss far outstripped national capacity. The country&rsquo;s climate ministry called the Loss and Damage finance a matter of national survival rather than an environmental concern. Pakistan asked for adherence to the principles of climate justice and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. &quot;Climate justice demands immediate access. Our people cannot wait,&quot; the ministerial statement said. It called on developed economies and multilateral institutions to move from political commitments to on-ground financial delivery. Moriani stated that Pakistan was committed to working with the UN, international partners, and climate finance bodies to create a fair global framework for climate recovery. The aim is to ensure that vulnerable states receive the resources needed to recover, rebuild, and thrive in a world experiencing accelerating climate impacts. &quot;Climate justice demands immediate access. Our people cannot wait,&quot; she said. The secretary called on international partners to translate political commitments into concrete financial support for the most vulnerable.

Climate & Environment

Pakistan calls on international community to provide rapid, grant-based financing for climate-vulnerable countries, highlighting the disproportionate climate burden and ongoing disasters affecting vulnerable populations.

COP30: Pakistan calls for grant-based climate finance for vulnerable nations

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&rsquo;s southern Sindh province this week presented &ldquo;the world&rsquo;s largest climate-resilient housing reconstruction programme&rdquo; at COP30 in Bel&eacute;m, showcasing the Sindh People&rsquo;s Housing for Flood Affectees (SPHF) as a global model for gender-responsive climate recovery.&nbsp;Launched in the aftermath of Pakistan&rsquo;s devastating 2022 floods, which displaced more than 15 million people, SPHF aims to rebuild 2.1 million multi-hazard-resistant homes, directly benefiting more people than the populations of 154 countries, according to program leadership.&nbsp;The 2022 floods devastated Sindh, affecting over 14.5 million people and causing the highest share of Pakistan&rsquo;s national losses, according to official estimates by provincial disaster management authorities.&nbsp;&nbsp;Up to 2.1 million houses were damaged or destroyed, hundreds of lives were lost, and more than 8,000 people injured. The floods also killed 1.2 million livestock, destroyed 3.6 million acres of cropland, and damaged over 13,000 kilometers of roads, disrupting livelihoods and food security.&nbsp;Sindh bore the largest portion of Pakistan&rsquo;s economic losses, highlighting the urgent need for climate-resilient reconstruction.&nbsp;Speaking at the COP30 side event Women Leading Climate Action in Sindh through SPHF, Khalid Mehmood Shaikh, the program chief, emphasized the initiative&rsquo;s unprecedented reach and people-centered design.&nbsp;He said the program&rsquo;s success was &ldquo;rooted in strong political will and the engagement of the best private sector partners,&rdquo; noting that transparency and digital monitoring were central to its implementation.&nbsp;Shaikh explained that SPHF began with $500 million from the World Bank and Rs50 billion ($178.2 million) from the Government of Sindh, but the initial allocation was not enough to meet the massive reconstruction need.&nbsp;&ldquo;While the initial funding was not sufficient to construct 2.1 million houses, a robust system was established&hellip; Through these efforts, SPHF mobilized $2 billion to achieve the entire reconstruction target,&rdquo; he said, citing additional financing from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and further support from the World Bank.&nbsp;Shaikh reported significant on-ground progress: &ldquo;Under the SPHF program, we have opened 1.5 million bank accounts, 1.45 million houses are under construction, and completed 650,000 fully constructed houses.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;A scale of climate-resilient recovery unmatched globally.&rdquo;&nbsp;He highlighted that 800,000 women are direct beneficiaries, with land titles for each house issued in women&rsquo;s names, describing this as &ldquo;the largest residential asset transfer in the history of Pakistan,&rdquo; aimed at securing long-term resilience for &ldquo;those most vulnerable to climate change, including women-headed households, widows, and elderly women.&rdquo;&nbsp;The program drew strong commendations from international development partners.&nbsp;Noelle O&rsquo;Brien, director of Climate Change at ADB, said, &ldquo;SPHF demonstrates what true resilience in action looks like, placing women at the center of adaptation, finance, and governance.&rdquo;&nbsp;She added that this is &ldquo;the kind of scalable, gender-responsive model the world needs,&rdquo; emphasizing the importance of linking financial inclusion, resilient infrastructure, and community leadership to reduce long-term vulnerability.&nbsp;Daouda Ben Oumar Ndiaye, manager of the Climate Change &amp; Environment Division at IsDB, said the bank was &ldquo;proud to support this initiative,&rdquo; calling it a benchmark for global climate adaptation.&nbsp;&ldquo;IsDB&rsquo;s focus on gender integration ensures women, widows, and the elderly are not only included but prioritized,&rdquo; he said, adding that the bank is working to create synergies in Sindh through integrated health and women&rsquo;s empowerment projects.&nbsp;SPHF&rsquo;s reconstruction efforts extend beyond housing.&nbsp;A large-scale Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) component valued at $600 million is underway to deliver clean water and sanitation facilities to 4,000 villages and 450,000 households.&nbsp;Program leaders said the WASH initiative is essential for addressing vulnerability in communities repeatedly affected by climate-driven disasters.&nbsp;Technology forms a central pillar of the program&rsquo;s governance model. SPHF&rsquo;s management system facilitates direct bank transfers, real-time progress monitoring, and digital verification to strengthen transparency, enable financial inclusion, and reduce leakages.&nbsp;As governments and global institutions at COP30 explore pathways for equitable climate action, SPHF was presented as a replicable example of large-scale, gender-responsive climate recovery.&nbsp;Its combination of public-private partnerships, digital transparency, and community empowerment was offered as a blueprint for climate-vulnerable nations seeking resilient and inclusive reconstruction models.

Foreign Affairs

Pakistan’s southern Sindh province showcased its SPHF program at COP30 as a global model for climate-resilient, gender-focused reconstruction after the 2022 floods, mobilizing $2 billion to rebuild 2.1 million homes, empower women, and set a benchmark for inclusive recovery.

At COP30, Pakistan’s Sindh unveils ambitious climate-resilient housing blueprint

BEL&Eacute;M: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and the United States shipped vast amounts of oil to Israel during its two-year Gaza offensive, according to a report by Oil Change International, which says the same fossil-fuel system driving climate change is also enabling &quot;genocide.&quot; Released at the UN climate summit in Brazil, the analysis titled &quot;Behind the Barrel&quot; found that 25 countries were responsible for 323 shipments of crude and refined petroleum products totaling 21.2 million tons between Nov. 1, 2023, and Oct. 1, 2025. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were by far the largest suppliers of crude, accounting for 70% of shipments. Russia, Greece, and the United States were the top providers of refined petroleum products, with the US standing out as the sole supplier of JP-8, a jet-fuel blend designed for military aircraft. &quot;States risk becoming complicit in genocide under international law, under the Genocide Convention,&quot; Shady Khalil of Oil Change International told reporters. &quot;As world leaders convene at COP 30, &#39;Behind the Barrel&#39; reveals the deadly links between fossil fuel suppliers and international conflict.&quot; The group commissioned research firm Data Desk to conduct the analysis. The conflict began in October 2023 when an attack by Hamas killed 1,221 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Israel&#39;s retaliatory campaign has since killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza&#39;s health ministry, whose data is deemed reliable by the United Nations. Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza that has largely halted the war since Oct. 10, though violent incidents continue to be reported, often with fatalities. A UN Commission has concluded Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel&#39;s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful. Irene Pietropaoli, a senior fellow in business and human rights at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, said in a statement that states were obliged to follow the ICJ&#39;s interim order directing them to &quot;prevent and punish genocide.&quot; &quot;States must consider that their military or other assistance to Israel&#39;s military operations in Gaza may put them at risk of being complicit in genocide under the Genocide Convention,&quot; she said. Asked by AFP whether it was important to differentiate between oil for civilian versus military use, Ana Sanchez Mera, coordinator for the Global Energy Embargo for Palestine, who was part of a panel discussion on the topic, said, &quot;It is one system of settler colonial occupation.&quot; She gave the example of Israel&#39;s electricity grid, which was partially powered by coal and connects both Israel and the illegally occupied Palestinian lands. In August 2024, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that the country had formally suspended coal exports to Israel. While official data indicates Brazil last sent oil directly to Israel in March 2024, the head of the Rio de Janeiro Oil Workers Union has claimed Brazil may have rerouted shipments via Italy.

Climate

Analysis titled 'Behind the Barrel' finds countries responsible for 323 shipments of crude, refined petroleum products totaling 21.2 million tons between Nov. 1, 2023, and Oct. 1, 2025.

25 oil-supplying states accused of 'complicity' in Gaza war

BEL&Eacute;M: The United Nations climate conference opened on Monday in the Brazilian Amazon with pleas for the world to keep up the fight against global warming, even as the United States turns its back. Feeble progress toward weaning off fossil fuels and cutting planet-warming emissions has opened fault lines between countries in Belem, the hot and sticky city on the edge of the rainforest hosting the two-week COP30 summit. &quot;It&#39;s time to inflict a new defeat on the deniers,&quot; Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva thundered in his opening address, which followed a traditional performance from Indigenous people in feathered headpieces. He pointedly slammed those who &quot;spread fear, attack institutions, science, and universities.&quot; Weighing on the talks is the absence of the United States, the world&#39;s top oil producer and second-largest polluter. But American state and local leaders, including California Governor Gavin Newsom, are set to take the stage on Tuesday to show the country isn&#39;t entirely missing in action, highlighting their own climate policies and solidarity with global efforts. &quot;Make no mistake, humanity is still in this fight,&quot; said UN climate chief Simon Stiell. &quot;We have some tough opponents, no doubt, but we also have some heavyweights on our side.&quot; He pointed to &quot;the brute power of market forces&quot; beginning to tip in favor of renewables, which this year overtook coal as the world&#39;s top energy source: &quot;extraordinary progress that was unimaginable a decade ago.&quot; The summit opens in the wake of destructive storms in the Caribbean and Asia, and amid growing fears that geopolitical tensions &mdash; from wars to trade feuds &mdash; are distracting from the fight against climate change. In a stark reminder of what&#39;s at stake, the UN&#39;s top climate scientist reaffirmed that a temporary breach of the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) benchmark &mdash; the safer warming goal of the Paris Agreement &mdash; was now inevitable. Those challenges and more were compounded by logistical problems in Belem, including a dire shortage of hotel rooms. Organizers say just over 42,000 delegates have gathered, fewer than at recent editions, as sky-high accommodation costs appear to have kept many away. Lula has defended the choice of location, saying he wanted to bring the world&#39;s attention to the Amazon&#39;s role in combating climate change, a shift mainly driven by burning coal, oil, and gas. Tough negotiations&nbsp;A tough two weeks lie ahead for diplomats meeting in a cavernous conference hall, where the din of negotiations is occasionally drowned out by tropical rainfall hammering the roof overhead. Wealthy nations and developing countries regularly clash at COPs over how to raise the money needed for poorer regions to adapt to climate change and shift to a low-carbon future. &quot;Our 44 countries did not light this fire, but we are bearing its heat,&quot; Evans Njewa, a Malawian diplomat who chairs the Least Developed Countries (LDC) bloc that represents more than one billion people, told reporters. Major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia have traditionally opposed efforts at COPs to focus on fossil fuels. At COP28 in 2023, nations agreed for the first time to transition away from fossil fuels. Lula has floated the idea of a &quot;roadmap&quot; on fossil fuels at COP30, but the proposal so far lacks details. For 30 years, the countries party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change &mdash; adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro &mdash; have met annually to strengthen the global climate regime. Those efforts culminated in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which commits the world to limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels, while striving to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. But Jim Skea, head of the UN&#39;s expert body on climate science, warned on Monday that it was &quot;almost inevitable&quot; the world would cross the crucial warming threshold at least temporarily. The world&#39;s failure to rein in global temperature rises is the focus of an effort by small island nations to put this on the official agenda. A Western diplomat told AFP that such nations &quot;are ready to upend the COP&quot; if they don&#39;t see a stronger official response to these efforts assured at COP30. &quot;If they don&#39;t deliver on 1.5 degrees Celsius, that spells our demise,&quot; Tuvalu minister for climate affairs and environment Maina Vakafua Talia told AFP.

Feeble progress toward weaning off fossil fuels, cutting planet-warming emissions have opened fault lines between countries in Belem, the hot and sticky city on the edge of the rainforest hosting the two-week COP30 summit.

Brazil's Silva urges 'defeat' of climate deniers as COP30 opens

BEL&Eacute;M: World leaders meet on Thursday in the Brazilian Amazon to show that climate change remains a top global priority despite broken promises and the United States shunning the gathering. About 50 heads of state and government are expected in the rainforest city of Belem for a summit on Thursday and Friday ahead of the annual UN Conference of Parties (COP) climate negotiations that open next week. Almost every nation is participating, but Washington is sending nobody, with President Donald Trump having branded climate science a &quot;con job.&quot; UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected in Belem, but other major economies, including China and India, are sending deputies or climate ministers. The choice of Belem, a city of 1.4 million people, half of whom live in working-class neighborhoods known as favelas, has been controversial due to its limited infrastructure, with sky-high hotel fees complicating the participation of small delegations and NGOs. Authorities have invested in new buildings and renovations, but with fewer than 24 hours to go to the leaders&#39; summit opening, media teams and delegation scouts arrived at the COP venue on Wednesday to find building works still very much underway. Nonetheless, Karol Farias, 34, a makeup artist who came to shop at the newly spruced-up Ver-o-Peso market, told AFP: &quot;The COP is bringing Belem the recognition it deserves.&quot; Uphill battle&nbsp;Brazil is not seeking to land a big deal at COP30, but rather to send a clear signal in an uncertain time that nations still back the climate fight. The US absence will linger awkwardly during the summit, as will Brazil&#39;s recent approval of oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River. So, too, will the unanswered call for a wave of ambitious new climate pledges ahead of COP30, and the stark acknowledgement from UN chief Antonio Guterres that the target of limiting global warming to 1.5&deg;C from pre-Industrial levels will be missed. Host Brazil is also still scrambling to find affordable rooms in Belem for cash-strapped countries. The COP30 presidency on Tuesday said it had secured outside funding to provide three free cabins aboard cruise ships for delegations from low-income countries. Brazil has acknowledged the uphill battle it faces in rallying climate action amid wars and tariff disputes, tight budgets, and a populist backlash against green policies. In a sobering reminder of the task at hand, a closely watched vote last month to reduce pollution from global shipping was rejected under intense pressure from the United States. Leaders gathered in Belem &quot;need to deliver a clear mandate to the COP to be ambitious and to close the gap and to address the issues that are burning,&quot; Greenpeace Brazil executive director Carolina Pasquali told AFP from aboard the organization&#39;s Rainbow Warrior flagship, docked at the city&#39;s port. &#39;Enough talk&#39;&nbsp;Rather than producing a slew of new commitments, Brazil has cast the summit as an opportunity for accountability. &quot;Enough talking, now we have to implement what we&#39;ve already discussed,&quot; Brazil&#39;s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said this week. Brazil is putting diplomatic muscle into pitching a global fund that would reward tropical countries for protecting rainforests. It has also placed particular emphasis on adaptation, a key demand of countries seeking more support to build defenses against rising seas and climate disasters. &quot;This is not a charity, but a necessity,&quot; Evans Njewa, a Malawian diplomat and chair of the Least Developed Countries bloc, told AFP. These countries want concrete details on how to substantially boost climate finance to $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 &mdash; the estimated need in the developing world. The hosts are also under pressure to marshal a response to the collective failure to limit warming to 1.5&deg;C as agreed in the landmark Paris accord a decade ago. Even if all commitments are fully enacted, global warming is still set to reach 2.5&deg;C by the century&#39;s end. &quot;For many of our countries, we won&#39;t be able to adapt our way out of something that overshoots over two degrees,&quot; Ilana Seid, a diplomat from Palau and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, told AFP in October. They, among others, want to phase out fossil fuels and push for deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Lula said Brazil wants to &quot;propose a roadmap for reducing fossil fuels,&quot; but conceded it was a difficult conversation.

Americas

Rather than producing a slew of new commitments, Brazil has cast the summit as an opportunity for accountability; Brazil is putting diplomatic muscle into pitching a global fund that would reward tropical countries for protecting rainforests.





Articles tagged with "COP 30"

COP30: Pakistan calls for grant-based climate finance for vulnerable nations

At COP30, Pakistan’s Sindh unveils ambitious climate-resilient housing blueprint

25 oil-supplying states accused of 'complicity' in Gaza war

Brazil's Silva urges 'defeat' of climate deniers as COP30 opens

World leaders to rally climate fight ahead of Amazon summit