At COP31, PM Shehbaz calls for grant-based finance, resilience funding for climate-vulnerable countries

On Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasized the need for grant-based finance and enhanced resilience and adaptation funds for climate-vulnerable countries during the COP31 summit in Antalya, Turkey. The annual conference, which brings together nearly 200 nations, aims to transition towards a low-carbon future; however, global greenhouse gas emissions have not decreased, and competing crises dominate political focus.

Addressing the summit, the Pakistani prime minister highlighted Pakistan's commitment to clean energy but stressed that national efforts alone could not replace a fair and just global response. "When climate disasters strike, vulnerable countries need timely help and finance that does not deepen their debt," Shehbaz stressed, adding that Pakistan seeks "grant-based finance, including public-private partnership, alongside significant enhancement of resilience and adaptation funds, which amount to survival funds, especially for struggling economies."

Pakistan currently relies on clean energy sources for approximately 55% of its energy needs, and the country is advancing electric mobility, with a target to cut projected emissions by about 50% by 2035. The prime minister recalled the devastating 2025 floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Buner, where a young man was just two days away from his wedding when flash floods devastated his village.

"Their grief was personal, yet the warning signs continued to be global," Shehbaz cautioned, noting that this was the story of "millions of people in Pakistan and across the developing world." He also referenced the 2022 floods in Pakistan, which resulted in over 1,700 deaths and economic losses exceeding $30 billion, underscoring the economic damage and mass displacement caused by the catastrophe.

Addressing the summit, Shehbaz reiterated his speech at the UN General Assembly in 2022, warning that Pakistan's struggles would not remain contained to its borders. "The future we feared has become the present we are living," he said, emphasizing the need for global solidarity. The premier stressed that climate change knows no borders and no nation can face it alone, and success should be measured by protecting families, delivering resources, and sustaining meaningful action.