ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday vowed to produce 60 per cent clean energy through renewable resources by the year 2030 and announced to switch 30 percent of the country’s vehicles to electric, ARY News reported.
“I assure you that Pakistan will be doing its best to make its contribution to mitigate the effects of climate change and run 30 percent of its vehicles on electricity,” PM Imran Khan told the Climate Ambition Summit to mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of the landmark Paris Agreement.
The prime minister in his video speech said Pakistan’s contribution to global emissions were less than one percent, “yet and sadly, we are the fifth most vulnerable country to climate change.”
Imran Khan announced that Pakistan will plant 10 billion trees in the next three years, adding that Pakistan has increased the number of national parks and its protected areas, from 30 to 45.
Referring to the country’s indigenous coal reserves he said “We have decided to produce energy either by coal to liquid or coal to gas so that we do not have to burn coal to produce energy.”
He said his government has also decided not to have any more power based on coal and has scarped two such projects that were supposed to generate 2600 MWs.
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These power projects have been replaced by hydroelectricity, added PM.
‘Climate emergency’
The event was addressed by a number of world leaders as the United Nations warned that current commitments to tackle rises in global temperatures were inadequate.
UN chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday urged world leaders to declare a “state of climate emergency” and shape greener growth after the coronavirus pandemic, as he opened a summit marking five years since the landmark Paris Agreement.
The Climate Ambition Summit, being held online, comes as the United Nations warns current commitments to tackle rises in global temperatures are inadequate.
“If we don’t change course, we may be headed for a catastrophic temperature rise of more than 3.0 degrees this century,” he said.
