From Dawn · Ali Tauqeer Sheikh · · 1m 20s
Pakistan's Climate Budget Crisis
Pakistan's climate budget crisis reveals how citizens already fund resilience without state support.
In brief
Pakistan's climate budget crisis reveals how citizens already fund resilience without state support. Pakistan's citizens are financing their own climate resilience through solar panels and local investments, bypassing state subsidies and donor aid. Originally reported by Dawn.
Poverty rates rise
Poverty has climbed to 25.3 per cent on the national line, with 45pc of Pakistanis below the World Bank's $4.20-a-day threshold.
Citizens lead growth
Farmers, shopkeepers and households imported 17 gigawatts of solar panels in 2024 and 2025 without state support or donor funding.
Subsidies distort growth
Prolonged, distorted subsidies are not a safety net but an obstacle to citizen-led growth.
Climate budget gap
Pakistan already has a climate budget written after each disaster, not captured by recent climate budget tagging.
Unpriced risk
Climate losses are treated as contingent liabilities, with provinces estimating annual flood, heat and drought costs.
Maintenance first
Economic productivity depends on assets that work, not new projects, requiring maintenance budgets for embankments and drains.
District arithmetic
Growth targets fail when national metrics like carbon tonnes don't translate to local units like tube-wells and culverts.
Local ownership
Districts can earn performance-based grants by setting up climate funds and meeting public financial management standards.
The one thing
Pakistan's citizens are financing their own climate resilience through solar panels and local investments, bypassing state subsidies and donor aid.
