Daily Times

Pakistan should seek financial and technical assistance from world organizations including the UN, IMF and WEF to switch over from fossil fuel to clean renewable energy in order to contribute its productive role in minimizing ill impacts of Green House Gaseous (GHG) emission, said Hassan Abulenein, Associate Director World Economic Forum (WEF).

Addressing an online meeting with the R & D department of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI), he said that WEF has already chalked out a comprehensive strategy to phase out hazardous fuel which has posed serious threat to the earth and environment.

He mentioned climate change and increase in global warming which have become a key threat to life and may cause the extinction of a large number of endangered species of animals and plants.

He appreciated the research work conducted by the R & D department of the FCCI on environment preservation and said that we could collaborate to carve out a workable strategy to promote renewable energy in Pakistan.

Engineer Ahmad Hassan Convener FCCI Standing Committee on R&D and former Vice President FCCI said that WEF, UN, IMF and other global organizations have already given a plan to cut use of fossil fuel by 50% by the year 2030.

He said that Pakistan is trapped by the IPPs which are producing costly electricity by using fossil fuel. “We should exploit the global agreements including UN sustainable development goals and Paris agreement to get rid of the harsh conditionalities of the IPPs which have become an unbearable burden on the national kitty,” he said and added that Pakistan has potential to produce 2.9 million MW electricity through solar but we are dwindling at only 1000MW.

He mentioned a white paper published by the R&D department of the FCCI which has given a comprehensive solution to get rid of fossil fuel by promoting clean and renewable energy resources in the country.

He said that during the last one century global warming has recorded an alarming increase of 1.2 centigrade which is perpetrating unpredicted rains, floods, storms and earthquakes badly affecting the cropping patron in addition to inflicting colossal loss to the infrastructure.

He urged upon the WEF and other global organizations to divert maximum funding towards the production of clean energy so that the carbon emission could be reduced to the minimum level.

He said that Pakistan was bearing a huge loss of $3.8bn while the floods of 2022 also caused staggering losses to the tune of $15bn. He said that the business community must pressurize the government to renegotiate with the IPPs so that the UN objective of reducing fossil fuel to 50% by 2030 could be achieved without any hassle.

Amjad Khawaja of Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PHMA), Engineer Asim Munir, Abdullah Qadri, Dr Muhammad Arif and Muhammad Faizan also participated in the meeting.