Islamabad: The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Tuesday urged the adoption of gender-responsive budgeting in climate adaptation, arguing that climate finance must address the disproportionate vulnerabilities faced by women and marginalized groups.
Speaking after an in-house faculty discussion ahead of World Environment Day on 5 June, SDPI Executive Director Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri stressed to accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement and more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
He said the day, themed “A Global Call for Climate Action,” should produce concrete, verifiable commitments, including richer nations meeting their pledge of $100 billion annually in climate finance and removing bureaucratic barriers to loss-and-damage funding.
“For countries like Pakistan, climate adaptation is not a choice but a condition for survival,” Dr. Suleri said, warning that the world is witnessing unprecedented biodiversity loss, glacial retreat and extreme weather events.
He called for national ownership and localized solutions, pointing to SDPI programmes such as the Living Indus Initiative and Recharge Pakistan as examples of community-led restoration, ecosystem-based adaptation and scalable nature-based solutions.
He urged the government to integrate these approaches into the upcoming NDC revision.Dr. Shafqat Munir, SDPI’s Deputy Executive Director-Policy, stressed accountability and transparency in climate governance.
Citing SDPI research, he said Pakistan’s climate financing gap exceeds $7 billion per year and called for innovative instruments, including green bonds, nature-based solutions, debt-for-climate swaps and anticipatory action financing, to benefit local communities.
He also highlighted the disproportionate impact of climate change on women and marginalized groups and urged gender-responsive budgeting and mandatory social safeguards in large-scale green projects.
Dr. Munir recommended making anticipatory action financing a regular budget head to strengthen humanitarian architecture through pre-agreed financing, preparedness and evacuation plans that can save lives, livestock and infrastructure ahead of climatic disasters.
SDPI Research Fellow and energy economist Dr. Khalid Waleed acknowledged Pakistan’s progress under SDG 13 (Climate Action) but warned that national-level gains must translate into inclusive, equitable outcomes at disaggregated levels.
He called for climate revenue recycling so revenues from carbon taxes and climate levies are transparently redirected to vulnerable communities via social protection, climate-resilient livelihoods, adaptation infrastructure and clean energy access.
Zainab Naeem, Head of Ecological Sustainability and Circular Economy at SDPI, said Pakistan faces converging environmental and climate crises, noting the country’s low ranking, 179th out of 180, on the Yale Environmental Performance Index.
She highlighted urgent problems including hazardous air pollution, recurring smog, ecosystem degradation, unmanaged waste and growing urban climate vulnerabilities. Naeem singled out waste mismanagement as a pressing, overlooked challenge.
“As cities expand, open dumping and inefficient resource use are increasing pressure on public health, ecosystems and economic productivity,” she said, calling for an accelerated transition to a circular economy, stronger environmental governance and mainstreaming of nature-based solutions in development planning.
SDPI concluded that turning the global call for climate action into local, national and international reality requires measurable commitments, predictable finance and people-centred policies that prioritize the most climate‑vulnerable populations.
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