Green Climate Fund (GCF) and three other international and local partners have launched a $77.8 million fund to address climate change in Pakistan.
Under the guise of Recharge Pakistan: Building Pakistan’s Resilience to Climate Change through Ecosystem-based Adaptation for Integrated Flood Risk Management,’ this initiative is aimed at curbing risks associated with flooding and drought.
The project – a joint endeavor between GCF, WWF, Coca-Cola, and USAID – has the capacity to directly improve the lives of up to 10 million individuals.
Kanwal Bokharey, Senior Partnerships Advisor at USAID, announced this collaboration during the American Business Council (ABC) Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Awards, an event that recognizes business commitment to ESG principles.
Bokharey disclosed, “USAID is investing $5 million, matched by an additional $5 million from Coca-Cola, and $1.8 million from WWF. This, combined with financing from various sources, has unlocked an impressive $66 million from the GCF Fund, resulting in a total project scale of $77.8 million. This represents the largest GCF-funded project in Pakistan”.
He further commended the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between USAID and Coca-Cola in March, underscoring Coca-Cola’s role as an ESG-compliant company making significant contributions to sustainable development in Pakistan.
During a panel discussion, speakers emphasized Pakistan’s status as one of the top three most vulnerable nations to climate change, despite contributing less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. They stressed that embracing ESG frameworks and investing in sustainable projects could not only mitigate projected losses but also lead to additional revenue and profits.
The seven-year project is centered around elevating ecosystems, minimizing economic losses, and creating employment opportunities. Its projected impact is substantial, directly benefiting 700,000 individuals and indirectly impacting the lives of approximately 8 million people throughout its duration.
This initiative aligns seamlessly with the 2050 vision of ecosystem-based adaptation, laying the foundation for robust climate resilience. Bokharey emphasized that once implemented, the project could lead to a substantial reduction in flood risks by 2030, enhancing water recharge along the four sides of the Indus Basin in Sindh.
Initially, the project will operate in diverse districts across three provinces: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Balochistan, with the possibility of expansion into Punjab at a later stage.
Jamshed Safdar, President of the ABC, called upon corporations to integrate ESG principles into their budgets, highlighting their crucial role in advancing societal well-being. Senator Fawzia Arshad, the event’s chief guest, underscored the necessity for both the private and public sectors to collaborate in tackling the escalating climate challenges, emphasizing that addressing climate disasters requires collective effort.
A global study suggests that the corporate sector could face losses of $1 trillion due to climate change. However, investing $300 million in climate risk mitigation projects has the potential to yield an astonishing $2.1 trillion by transforming climate challenges into opportunities.
