Consequence of climate inaction

A new UN report dealing with the weather and climate change has underscored that for Pakistan, the climate crisis is not an abstract future threat, but a present reality. The World Meteorological Organization's latest State of the Global Climate report paints a dire picture, confirming that the decade from 2015 to 2025 was the hottest on record, with oceans reaching unprecedented heat levels for nine years on the trot. For Pakistan, these global statistics translate into a national emergency. This year alone, monsoon rains were made 15% more intense by human-caused climate change, according to World Weather Attribution. The heavier rains resulted in hundreds of deaths, thousands of destroyed homes and countless displaced families. It is also worth recalling that, for all of the harm that Pakistan has to suffer, it is also one of the smallest contributors to global GHG emissions — less than one per cent — meaning that the country is taking on a disproportionate amount of damage because of the historical excess of other countries, almost all of whom have shirked their responsibility to the world we all share. When countries such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand roll back their climate commitments, or in the case of the US, pull an about-face, it is Pakistanis who suffer the consequences. And given the lack of concern for human suffering among so many world leaders, it is unsurprising that they are also unwilling to take financial responsibility for their actions. A UN estimate last year said that without major adaptation measures, climate-related damages could cost Pakistan $1.2 trillion by 2050. That is almost three times the size of Pakistan's entire economy at present. Meanwhile, global adaptation finance remains comically low: though only $387 billion is allocated to developing countries annually under COP commitments, the actual amount paid was just $28 billion, in 2022. That number was actually a record high, and fell the year after to just $26 billion. The window of opportunity to act is passing by, and the countries best placed to act are the least enthusiastic to do so.