Green Industrialization in Pakistan: Integrated Policy Strategies for a Sustainable Future

Introduction

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD] Geneva has developed a project that aims to assist four major developing countries in Asia in their efforts to reach SDGs related to green industrialization.

The project intends to assist 4 selected developing countries (Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, and Türkiye) to achieve 2030 Agenda through: 1) effective integrated policy strategies and improved capacity at national level, including South-South peer-learning; and 2) economic cooperation and policy coordination at regional level.

Adapting to a changing climate through green industrialization is crucial for Pakistan as the country is among the top ten most climate vulnerable countries, experiencing long term weather changes and is frequently hit by heatwaves, droughts, excessive rains and floods.

Additionally, Pakistan is currently experiencing significant macroeconomic instability, under a mountain of domestic and foreign debt, combined with the instability created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine war and unprecedented rains and flood in later part of 2022, all of which have been adding to the pains of an economy beset with deep structural problems.

Purpose and key objectives:

Under Green Industrialization Project, UNCTAD and its partner, Social Protection Resource Centre, Islamabad joined hands in 2022 to produce fresh knowledge on the binding constraints Pakistan has been facing in terms of Green Industrialization and carried out four sectoral studies on the challenges in greening being faced by Pakistan’s manufacturing sector, Textiles, Agriculture and Transport in the lead up to the launching of Pakistan Project.

As the financing has been one of the most challenging binding constraints, a new study has also been undertaken in addition to the sectoral studies on the past limitations faced by the country in availing quality climate finance with a view to prepare Pakistan better to benefit from the Loss & Damage Fund in the coming days.

The purpose of this event is to present the findings of the six studies to the scholarly community and policy practitioners in the presence of international experts to initiate a quality debate on the topic of Green Industrialization in Pakistan, which till date has not gained the kind of traction it should get, given its current and future role in green transformation of the Pakistan economy.

This relative weakness is not only a result of the absence of holistic approaches to study different aspects of green industrialization at the macro, sectoral and sub-sectoral levels. A weak symbiosis between the climate change and environmental policies in itself is hampering the emergence of a robust nexus between the Climate Policy and the cluster of Trade, Industrial and Investment policies, which seek to make Pakistan’s manufacturing sector more competitive.

The launching event aims to bring together the representatives of relevant ministries, academia, business community and civil society to fill any gaps in our Studies jointly produced by UNCTAD and SPRC, on the way to develop an integrated Green Industrialization Strategy for Pakistan, giving due consideration to the regional and global approaches and practices.