COP29: PM’s Climate Advisor Urges Swift, Unified Global Action to Address Climate Crisis
— November 11, 2024
BAKU (AIA) Prime Minister’s Coordinator on Climate Change, Romina Khurshid Alam, called for urgent global action to tackle the mounting climate crisis, emphasising the need to protect vulnerable ecosystems, communities, and infrastructure. Speaking on the opening day of COP29, the United Nations’ annual climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, Alam underscored that “climate inaction is no option” in the face of “the century’s worst challenge to sustainability.”
Alam, leading Pakistan’s delegation, stressed the nation’s commitment to climate resilience despite limited resources. COP29 brings together delegates from nearly 200 countries for critical negotiations on finance, adaptation, and emission reductions, especially as recent weather disasters underscore the impacts of a warming climate. Alam emphasised Pakistan’s key goals for the conference: securing climate finance and building resilience in developing nations.
This year’s summit aims to advance climate finance for poorer nations, enabling them to reduce emissions and adapt to worsening climate impacts. Alam urged world leaders to fulfil their pledges, stating, “Here in Baku, we must reach an agreement on a new global climate finance goal to protect Earth from devastating impacts.”
She pressed for an “ambitious” commitment from wealthier nations, historically major emitters, to deliver adequate climate funding, noting, “Climate finance is no charity. It’s a necessity for developing countries as they face adaptation and resilience challenges.”
Alam’s COP29 agenda includes multilateral engagements to drive investment in Pakistan’s climate initiatives, such as clean energy, smart agriculture, and water conservation.