Accelerating the climate transition

AS the monsoon season approaches, Pakistan faces a familiar anxiety. The memory of the 2022 floods — and the 2025 flooding that again disrupted lives, livelihoods and public finances — remains raw. The government is right to be preparing early for this year’s monsoon. But preparedness, while essential, is not enough. Pakistan must now accelerate, as a national priority, the broader transition to a climate-resilient, low-carbon and inclusive economy. The science leaves little room for complacency. The world remains off course to limit warming to 1.5°C. For Pakistan, the risks are especially severe. Warming in high mountain regions is expected to outpace the global average, threatening glaciers, downstream river systems, agriculture, cities and the most vulnerable within communities. For a country whose livelihood, economy and food security are tied so closely to the Indus Basin, this is not a distant environmental concern. It is a direct threat to growth, stability and lives. The forthcoming 2nd Breathe Pakistan International Climate Change Conference — under the stark theme ‘Time Is Running Out: Confronting Pakistan’s Climate Crisis’ — offers a timely moment to build consensus on a whole of society pathway for climate action. As decision-makers and experts gather in Islamabad from around the world in pursuit of this goal, they should keep in mind three things that will be critical to delivering this transition that is so critical for Pakistan: strategic financing, coherent planning and effective coordination. External climate finance is under strain, just as adaptation needs are rising. Pakistan must mobilise climate finance at a far greater scale. This is not only about securing more international support, though grants and concessional finance remain essential. It is also about increasing domestic resourcing from public and private sector mobilisation and public investment by sharpening the climate focus of disaster preparedness and adaptation into social and econ