Sherry slams ‘climate colonialism’ at Madrid moot

ISLAMABAD: PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate Senator Sherry Rehman slammed Climate Colonialism, saying that the world has no time for parsing Climate Colonialism.

“Climate negotiations need to factor into the needs of low polluters who are paying the cost for decades of fossil-fuel development by rich countries. Yet the resources needed for adaptation by countries like Pakistan are not even part of serious commitments made at multilateral forums,” she said while speaking at the 143rd Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference in Madrid.

She said despite clear evidence, pointing towards the world's richest and most powerful countries as the main perpetrators of climate change, no serious international policy or formal diplomatic effort has been made, nor has multilateralism been able to appropriately and proportionally account for the damage the high emission polluters have caused to the planet.

“There has been no meaningful discussion on the role of different countries in triggering climate-related reactions that will impact the world for decades to come. Nor has there been delivery on minimum pledges for building resilience for developing countries.”

“Urging vulnerable developing countries to adopt renewable energy is a good thing but expecting them to acquire smart technology with no resources to adapt their national energy grids to green energy, or turn into agri-tech users when countries that have used fossil fuels to build and grow their economies either look the other way and remain in denial about the costs of resilience,” she asserted.

She said Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate change and despite being a nation that emits less than 1% of the world’s greenhouse gases, our cities are facing a dangerous fifth winter season due to smog and air pollution. “Per capita, we produce 1.06 tonnes of carbon dioxide, whereas the global average is 4.5 tonnes,” she said.

Senator Sherry Rehman said Pakistan’s contribution to global cumulative carbon dioxide production, as of 2020, was 0.3%. “To put that into perspective, India has contributed 3.21% whereas the US and China have contributed 24.56% and 13.89%, respectively.” She said climate justice frameworks have to be made meaningful by allowing countries with the power and moral obligation to transfer resources to offset the impacts of climate change, not to deny willfully their own liability and set the bar low for climate justice.” “The borderless phenomenon such as climate change requires multilateral frameworks and climate diplomacy that shift towards the greening of foreign policies.” She said the IPU serves as a key forum for international cooperation between parliaments, as well as the transfer of knowledge and best practices from different countries.