Key Takeaways
- Pakistan's Finance Minister highlighted the country's climate financing needs at international forums.
- Aurangzeb emphasized the importance of domestic resources and fiscal buffers in climate response.
- He called for simplified access to international climate funds to support disaster preparedness.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb has called for increased international climate funding for Pakistan during a series of engagements in New York.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s ‘Financing Planet and Prosperity’ meeting, Aurangzeb highlighted Pakistan’s vulnerability to climate-related disasters, particularly floods that have affected infrastructure and communities.
He outlined government efforts to strengthen disaster response frameworks, early warning systems, and costed climate investment plans, emphasizing the need for international assistance to be supported by domestic resources and fiscal buffers.
Aurangzeb also addressed the United Nations Digital Cooperation Day 2026, where he discussed Pakistan’s move toward a regulated virtual assets framework, aiming to address practical economic needs such as lower remittance costs and SME financing.
At the launch of the COP31 Action Agenda, the finance minister expressed support for its priorities, which align with Pakistan’s national climate goals and NDC 3.0, focusing on clean energy, renewable energy, and climate resilient agriculture.
He welcomed the proposed Climate Implementation Bridge, describing it as a mechanism to turn climate commitments into investable and bankable projects, emphasizing the key challenge of implementation rather than the formulation of plans.
Aurangzeb stressed the importance of international climate funds, including the Green Climate Fund and Loss and Damage Fund, to simplify procedures and speed up access to financing.
He called for emerging economies to have a role in developing global standards for digital assets and related technologies, supporting private sector innovation with government safeguards and inclusive digital infrastructure.
