Climate and Development Outlook

This report by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) outlines Pakistan's efforts to balance rapid economic growth with climate resilience and low-carbon development. It highlights specific initiatives including a renewable energy project for Sialkot's industrial sector, the development of a national disaster-risk insurance framework, and the identification of 50 low-cost actions to reduce annual emissions by 100 megatons by 2030.

• Pakistan is experiencing a period of significant economic growth, with GDP projected to grow by over 5% in the current fiscal year, the highest in ten years. This growth, supported by Vision 2025 and the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, is expected to increase energy demand, prompting the government to seek a low-carbon development pathway that decouples emissions from economic growth.
• The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are presented as a critical framework for addressing Pakistan's core challenges in development, democracy, and defence. Failure to meet the 17 SDGs and 169 targets is viewed as a non-traditional threat to national security, particularly regarding climate change adaptation, gender empowerment, and poverty alleviation.
• In Sialkot City, a hub for export-oriented SMEs generating over US$1.5 billion annually, electricity shortages cost companies at least 10% of additional revenues due to daily load shedding of nearly three hours. A CDKN-led pre-feasibility assessment identified solar rooftop photovoltaic (PV) panels as the most viable renewable energy solution, which could mitigate up to 377,000 tons of carbon dioxide and save an average of US$27,400 per year in electricity costs.
• To move away from a case-by-case disaster response model that relies on domestic budget diversions and international donors, Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is developing a disaster-risk insurance framework. This framework aims to provide low-income households with affordable insurance and ensure liquidity immediately after extreme weather events. The Asian Development Bank is supporting the establishment of a National Disaster Management Fund with expected seed funding of US$1 billion, which may include a window for these risk transfer instruments.
• The Low Carbon Scenarios project has identified approximately 50 individual low-cost, short-term actions across the energy, agriculture, industry, forestry, transport, and waste sectors. These actions, which include expanding mass transit and utilizing landfill gas for energy, could potentially reduce Pakistan's annual emissions by 100 megatons by 2030 without sacrificing economic growth.

APA

Gass, P., Khalid, B., Osornio, J. P., & Sheikh, A. T. (2017). Climate and Development Outlook. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/PAKISTAN_Outlook_WEB-final.pdf

Chicago

Gass, Philip, Bilal Khalid, Juan Pablo Osornio, and Ali Tauqeer Sheikh. Climate and Development Outlook. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2017. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/PAKISTAN_Outlook_WEB-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gass |first1=Philip |last2=Khalid |first2=Bilal |last3=Osornio |first3=Juan Pablo |last4=Sheikh |first4=Ali Tauqeer |title=Climate and Development Outlook |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=February 2017 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/PAKISTAN_Outlook_WEB-final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gass2017climate, author = {Gass, Philip and Khalid, Bilal and Osornio, Juan Pablo and Sheikh, Ali Tauqeer}, title = {{Climate and Development Outlook}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2017}, month = feb, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/PAKISTAN_Outlook_WEB-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }