By Asfara Naveed

Pakistan stands at the crossroads, caught between commitments made and actions never delivered. Despite the high expectations built on global climate conferences, the on-ground realities paint a different picture. For developing countries like Pakistan, climate change is not only an environmental issue but also a development issue. Leaving this issue unaddressed hinders development as well. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s Climate Policy has various gaps. Internationally, the nation has actively participated in multiple accords and conventions, hinting at their intention to deal with the issue but there seems to be very little groundwork.

Pakistan faces natural disasters like floods, droughts, glacier melt, and heat waves on an annual basis but the question “Why are mitigation efforts lacking?” remains. As a country struggling economically and socially, these environmental challenges add more to the vulnerability of the state. This paper explores the status of Pakistan as per its climate policy.

Climate Performance and Policy Gaps

As per the Climate Change Performance Index of 2025, Pakistan ranks at 31st, reflecting high greenhouse gas emissions and energy use while the status of climate policy and renewable energy remains very low. This data reflects the slow progress of the nation in combating climate change due to multiple reasons including less international climate finances, high dependence on fossil fuels, weak domestic institutions, and policy implementation gaps.

Among these challenges, the major issue is that despite being in the top 10 most climate-vulnerable states Pakistan has limited climate finance accessibility. The dual burden of economic and climate vulnerability makes it harder for the country to meet its conditional targets under Nationally Determined Contributions. To overcome this, there is a need to ensure transparency and accountability in order to gain donor trust and secure future investments.

Budget Constraints and Economic Risks

Even at the local level, the environment sector gets very little recognition. In the Budget of 2025, the core allocations for the climate budget have decreased. Climate finance expert Ali Tauqeer Sheikh himself has pointed out that the steps taken in the budget are encouraging but are inadequate and lack transparency.

There is a dire need to understand how climate change affects the GDP of Pakistan. The World Bank has reported that Pakistan will start losing 6.5% to 9% of its GDP to climate change by 2050. This shows the urgency of this issue and that climate change needs prioritization in the national budget and enforcement.

Public Engagement and Awareness Challenges

Another factor contributing to the gap between policy and implementation is lack of public engagement and awareness. Pakistan has incorporated the promotion of public engagement in its Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plan. However, challenges remain in meaningful engagement at provincial and local levels.

In cases like these, inspiration should be taken from countries that have managed to invest heavily in research and education, prioritizing human capital development. Public engagement can equip the country with a more informed workforce to advance sustainable development. A bottom-up approach can bring about better outcomes in achieving SDGs by 2030. Failing to engage the public, especially the youth, tends to weaken climate action and also jeopardizes long-term sustainable development.

To tackle this issue, there should be public data available for educational purposes, youth must be engaged through internship programs or research projects, and schools must hold sessions to ensure consumerism and green education is embedded in the curriculum.

Weak Coordination and Political Barriers

Lack of coordination and cooperation among institutes largely reduces Pakistan’s ability to tackle climate change. The root issue of this downside lies in lack of political will and policy prioritization. Many projects remain unfinished due to political conflicts or different political interests. This thing leads to short-term actions holding back climate action.

For example, the Green Pakistan Programme was an important initiative that faced political opposition and saw very slow progress. This issue also reflects lack of partnership between public and private sectors that slows down sustainable development and puts burden on one of the two sectors instead of shared responsibility. At the international level, it creates a negative image which can make it harder to secure future funding opportunities.

So, it is essential to ensure that both private and public sectors work together, achieving sector-specific emissions targets. Larger corporations must incorporate sustainable development to reach the full potential as a nation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Pakistan struggles with climate policy. It is because of poor implementation, a lack of funding, and a structural gap more than a lack of commitment. So, it is more important than ever to take coordinated, functioning, and inclusive action. We need to act like a nation that continues to experience climate-related losses. It is important to give climate resilience a priority through public involvement, education, and improved governance. To fulfill emissions objectives and share responsibility, public-private cooperation needs to be strengthened. If significant and persistent efforts are not made, the gap between performance and promises will simply get wider.

Asfara Naveed is a Website Content Writer at Progressive Climate Foundation (PCF).