The Carbon Brief Profile: Pakistan
As part of a series on how key emitters are responding to climate change, Carbon Brief delves into the causes of Pakistan’s deep-rooted energy and economic crisis, whether it will move past coal and how catastrophic floods fuelled its call for loss-and-damage finance at UN climate talks.
Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in the world. It is currently in the midst of a crippling energy and economic crisis that has brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.
The country, which is the fifth most populous in the world and home to more than 230 million people, was the 18th largest emitter of greenhouse gases in 2018.
Its current crisis is closely tied to its dependency on fossil-fuel imports, particularly in light of global price hikes driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Imported fuels currently make up 40% of the country’s primary energy supply.
One in four people in Pakistan lack access to electricity. In January 2023, the country faced a complete power breakdown, which lasted for 24 hours in some areas.
Pakistan in 2020 committed to a moratorium on building coal-fired power plants. However, the government in 2023 promised to quadruple power plants fuelled with domestic coal to meet energy needs without relying on imports. Coal mining in the country has been linked to fatal disasters, slavery and child abuse.
More than 1,700 people died in Pakistan’s 2022 floods, which were fuelled by rains made 75% more intense by climate change. Many displaced by the floods remain homeless in 2023.
The devastating impact of the floods buoyed Pakistan’s call for a loss-and-damage fund to be established at the COP27 climate summit in 2022.
Pakistan has set itself a “cumulative conditional target” of limiting emissions to 50% of what it expects its business-as-usual levels to be in 2030. It says that 15% will be met by its own resources and 35% is subject to international financial support.