At FII9, PM Shehbaz laments climate losses despite Pakistan's 'no fault'

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday expressed dismay over the severe impacts of climate change on Pakistan, saying that the country suffers despite emitting less than 1% of global carbon.

At a roundtable discussion at the 9th Future Investment Initiative Conference 2025 in Riyadh on "Is Humanity Heading in the Right Direction?", the prime minister said that Pakistan had sustained economic losses worth $130 billion due to climate-induced disasters "through no fault of its own."

"Our emission is less than a fraction of 1% and yet in 2022 we faced devastating [cloudbursts], floods and storms," he said.

He recalled that the 2022 floods had submerged vast areas of land and destroyed crops, forcing the country to rely on external borrowing for reconstruction.

"It is like going up the ladder and then coming back down," he said, lamenting that the gains made by the nation were reversed by repeated natural calamities.

The premier noted that Pakistan's only option to rebuild flood-hit areas was through loans, underscoring the country’s economic vulnerability to climate shocks.

However, he said that borrowings for rebuilding were not the solution, saying that the country was making efforts to "stand up on our own feet".

PM Shehbaz also called on the global community to share the burden and come to the rescue of humanity.

Acknowledging that Pakistan had made mistakes in the past, PM Shehbaz said the government was now implementing "robust and deep-rooted reforms" aimed at transforming governance.

He highlighted that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had been completely digitalised and reaffirmed his government's resolve to combat corruption "with full might."

The prime minister further pointed out that Pakistan's youthful population — which makes up around 60% of the total — was both a challenge and an opportunity.

He urged the global community to support developing nations like Pakistan that bear the brunt of climate disasters despite contributing minimally to the crisis.

The premier then was of the view that humanity will progress once all nations share their "bounties and grievances" and technology with each other.

PM Shehbaz then vowed to transform Pakistan into "one of the fastest-growing countries" by connecting its natural resources and youth.

Responding to a question on the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) across the world, the primer emphasised that Pakistan was moving at a rapid pace to adopt AI due to its immense potential.

However, he acknowledged that the technology came with both benefits as well as disadvantages.

PM Shehbaz urged the global north — nations with a high level of economic and industrial development — for a dialogue on the technology's positive, productive use, and "have synergy with the global south" on its use.