Cop29: ‘We’re here for life and death reasons,’ says ex-climate minister of Pakistan

Sherry Rehman says rich nations should pay ‘internationally determined contributions’ to help poorer and worst-affected countries

Amid the endless politicking and inscrutable arguments at the UN climate negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month, it can be hard to remember what is at stake. That’s why Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s former climate change minister, is calling on global leaders to “keep an eye on the big picture”.

“We’re here for life and death reasons,” Rehman said.

In August 2022, devastating flash floods submerged one-third of Rehman’s country, affecting 33 million people. Roads, crops and infrastructure were washed away, and damage to water systems forced millions of people to rely on contaminated water from ponds and wells.

The key goal for Cop29 negotiators is to set an expanded goal for climate finance, something Rehman said Pakistan desperately required. The country needs to build resilient homes – a kind of investment, she noted, that had a net benefit of $4 for each $1 invested.

In addition, she said, Pakistan needs capacity and technical assistance to help manage its decarbonisation and adaptation plans. And though a solar boom is already under way in the country, it is overburdening consumers, so officials need funding to help speed up the energy transition, she said.

As Pakistan faces a future of increasing climate vulnerability, countries have failed to transition away from the burning of fossil fuels despite having made a pledge a year ago, and global carbon emissions are continuing to rise.

So Rehman is calling for a new UN climate framework. In addition to “nationally determined contributions” wherein individual countries track their climate action targets, she says the UN should require “internationally determined contributions” from wealthy nations to align with the climate plans of the developing and most-affected countries.

She said UN climate negotiations were the main way countries such as Pakistan could advocate for their needs to be met. That meant they had no choice but to come to the table.

“We’re one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world,” she said. “So we can’t walk away.”

Still, she harbours frustration about the negotiations, which in her estimation have delivered “more talk than action”. On finance, there is a yawning gap between what countries need and what the global north is willing to put up.

Poor countries will need $1tn a year in climate finance by 2030, experts said last week. That is five years earlier than rich countries are likely to agree to at UN climate negotiations. Meeting the target is likely to be even more difficult owing to the re-election of Donald Trump in the US, who has vowed to pull the US from the Paris climate agreement and drop commitments to cut carbon emissions.

“There will be a huge impact, a blow to the negotiations, if [the world’s] biggest economy goes out and says it’s taking its money and going elsewhere and it’s taking its expertise and its commitment and its values elsewhere,” Rehman said.

At Cop29, rich nations have argued that the private sector should have an increased role in fulfilling climate finance targets. But that could be dangerous for countries such as Pakistan, especially when it comes to funding for climate adaptation, which does not tend to produce desirable profits, Rehman said.

“Why would the private sector that revolves around markets and profits rush to the frontlines of climate catastrophe where only humanitarian agencies go?” she asked. “The private sector can be incentivised and certainly used to mobilise capital, yes, but capital and finance mobilisation has to happen at the international public sector as well.”

Finance should also be provided in grants, not loans, said Rehman, to avoid increasing countries’ debt burdens. “Countries are drowning, both in floods and debt,” she said.

Negotiators should ensure that finance is easily accessible. At present, because Pakistan doesn’t meet the definition of a “least developed country”, it is unable to access some crucial funds. And when funding is available, it can take two years to access.

“The barriers are too many,” Rehman said. “By the time it often comes to you, it’s too late: the needs on the ground have changed.”

A long history of climate inaction means that developing countries are increasingly facing irreversible impacts, known as loss and damage. Two years ago at Cop27 in Egypt, Rehman was a lead negotiator on this controversial issue, helping secure a groundbreaking commitment to set up a dedicated fund for loss and damage. But two years on, pledges from developed countries amount to a tiny fraction of what is needed. Rehman said the pressure must stay on donor countries to deliver the finance needed.

“We used to say what went on in Pakistan will not stay in Pakistan,” she said. “What’s happening to us will happen to you tomorrow, so, think collectively.”

Cover photo: Sherry Rehman said the negotiations so far had delivered ‘more talk than action’. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP