Plenary 1.3: Strengthening Climate Action: Priorities and Proposals for Effective Implementation

For Pakistan

Planning and Governance

• Build climate into existing planning and budgeting systems instead of creating new ones. Screen major public infrastructure and development projects for climate risk before they are approved and budgeted.
• Turn national climate plans into costed provincial and district action plans. The National Adaptation Plan, NDC 3.0, National Climate Finance Strategy, National Drought Plan 2025-2035 and Climate Prosperity Plan should each be translated into costed local plans, with lead institutions, implementation timelines, performance targets and clear reporting responsibilities.
• Clarify the role of each level of government and give local bodies real decision-making power. The federal level should manage shared resources, transboundary impacts and water resource coordination, while provinces and districts coordinate action on the ground. Administrative powers should be transferred to provinces without delay, and multi-sectoral platforms set up for shared risks.
• Deliver climate action through a whole-of-government framework. Climate, water, energy, agriculture, transport, finance, disaster management and digital-development institutions should work through one institutionalised delivery framework. Stronger federal-provincial coordination should ensure national priorities and funding reach provincial programmes and local implementation.

Risk Assessment and Adaptation

• Institutionalise integrated climate risk and vulnerability assessments. Assessments should be a regular process across sectors, regions and population groups, combining scientific projections with local evidence and reflecting how climate impacts are interconnected.
• Adaptation should be built into national, provincial and district development planning for both current and future risks, and tailored to mountain, plains and coastal areas, covering water, food security, health, settlements and ecosystems.
• Shift from repeated disaster recovery to anticipatory resilience. Treat water security, energy security and climate resilience as linked priorities. Integrate drought, heat, extreme rainfall and flooding into development decisions, backed by early warning systems, river basin planning and climate-resilient infrastructure.
• Local and indigenous communities, customary authorities and local leaders should take part in risk assessment, planning, implementation and monitoring at every stage so that local knowledge sits alongside scientific data and decisions are equitable.
• Adaptation measures should be designed to deliver benefits across sectors without creating new risks elsewhere.

• Make climate finance easier for provinces and local bodies to access. Simplify access through decentralised mechanisms and train local actors to access and manage funds directly and to prepare projects.
• Shift from project-based to programme-based financing and build investment-ready projects. Prepare investment-ready projects in climate-smart agriculture, resilient infrastructure, water management and clean technologies. Mobilise public funds, development partners and private finance through transparent mechanisms, while keeping expectations about private finance realistic.
• Track climate spending transparently. Tag climate-related spending in sub-national budgets and track allocations, disbursements, geographic coverage and outcomes.
• Strengthen green finance at home through the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the State Bank of Pakistan.

• Support solar uptake with stable rules and grid integration. 
• Develop national energy storage standards. Standards for batteries, safety, quality, recycling and investment would support reliable renewable electricity and a storage revolution.
• Expand affordable electric mobility. Prioritise two- and three-wheelers, supported by dependable charging and cleaner power.
• Treat AI as a tool and manage its environmental footprint. Assess and disclose the water and power consumption of AI systems, data centres and high-performance computing, and introduce resource efficiency and environmental safeguards.

Law, Data and Accountability

• Keep implementing international environmental obligations through Section 31 of the Environmental Protection Act. This also supports Pakistan’s European Union GSP+ status.
• Set measurable adaptation outcomes and report on them regularly. Monitoring and reporting should be linked with national commitments and the Global Goal on Adaptation, and regular progress reports should rest on reliable environmental baselines, measurable indicators and community feedback.
• For Regional and International Engagement at COP31
• Use Pakistan’s strong legal position/precedents at COP31. Pakistan can point to the constitutional right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment (Article 9A) and more than 422 court judgments on climate and environment, backed by impact-oriented climate narratives.
• Keep raising international climate finance. Engage with mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund and follow up on the Loss and Damage Fund.
• Strengthen regional climate cooperation and diplomacy and advocate fair adaptation finance and loss-and-damage support for vulnerable countries.