Pakistan
پاکستان
Overall NDC Equity Score
Critically Deficient
Emissions Reductions
Critically Deficient
The NDC has significant gaps in planning ambitious emissions reduction goals, ignoring the need for sustainable climate action.
Gender Justice
Critically Deficient
The NDC has significant gaps in addressing gender mainstreaming, potentially not including gender at all.
Youth Inclusion
Critically Deficient
The NDC has significant gaps in addressing youth inclusion, potentially not addressing young people at all.
Summary
Pakistan is the fifth most populous country in the world, with it’s largest population group aged between 15-29 and nearly 40% of the country facing poverty. As climate impacts unfold, Pakistan is at risk of massive energy, economic, and environmental crises that could destabilize the entire country. At present, the country’s GHG emissions are increasing at an annual rate of 6 percent or 18.5 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent. Though presently increasing emissions, Pakistan intends to reduce up to 20% of its 2030 projected GHG emissions subject to the availability of international grants.
On gender mainstreaming, Pakistan’s NDC highlights gender-sensitive programming as a guiding principle and acknowledges efforts were made to include women in climate policies and strategies; however, does not outline what that looked like for the NDC. The country commits to creating a Gender and Climate Action Plan, promoting capacity-building for women on new agriculture technologies, increasing the integration of climate into the National Commission on the Status of Women’s portfolio at all regional levels, developing gender-responsive budgeting and disaster-preparedness guidelines, and increasing women’s participation in decision-making and implementation at all scales (including rural areas). The NDC also acknowledges labor needs for women, including commitments to strengthen their ability to engage in local unions, implementing capacity building for natural resource management, and access to jobs in the clean energy sector.
On youth inclusion, Pakistan’s NDC sees its size-able younger population as a “demographic opportunity for climate action”. The NDC indicates that Pakistan has engaged young people in “a) fostering a shared understanding of the challenge, b) creating jobs for youth, c) increasing youth involvement and inclusion, and d) ownership of climate-smart development”. It couples this statement by outlining the youth engagement process for the NDC, which produced a review of NDC 2016, survey responses on the relationship between climate change and youth, and the mapping of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working with youth groups. The NDC outlines specific commitments on youth engagement for the Ministry, including promoting green job creation, working with youth groups to develop National Youth Strategy for Climate Action, involving young people in NDC monitoring and implementation, and creating climate change curriculum.
Highlights
- Provides a detailed GHG emission plan to achieve reduction goals.
- Includes gender-sensitive programming as a guiding principle.
- Includes promoting opportunities for youth groups to engage in, and benefit from, Pakistan’s adaptation and mitigation objectives and targets as a guiding principle.
- Acknowledges the need to increase attention on climate change in the country's Commission on the Status of Women.
- Includes dozens of actions to mainstream gender in policy, budgeting, and implementation efforts across all sectors.
- Commits to long-term youth engagement strategies and indicates a youth-inclusive NDC development process.
Lowlights
- Does not indicate the extent of women's participation (if any) in the NDC development process.
- Lacks specific actions for young people's involvement in mitigation and adaptation efforts.
Key Recommendations
Pakistan’s NDC indicates a strong understanding of the importance of gender mainstreaming and meaningful youth inclusion. However, due to current political systems and recent catastrophic climate-induced disaster, Pakistan risks falling into
the trap of tokenizing women and young people rather than implementing actions to sustain gender mainstreaming and intergenerational justice efforts. The following are key recommendations for the improvement of future NDCs and other national climate plans:
For Gender Mainstreaming
- Provide updates on the implementation of gender-responsive activities outlined in the NDC.
- Incorporate data on the gender balance of NDC contributors at the political and consultative levels.
- Include all genders without any biases in nation-building and policy-building.
- Incorporate actions that address the disproportionate impact to women's health due to climate change.
- Include gender-disaggregated data and climate change to inform additional steps on gender mainstreaming.
For Youth Inclusion
- Incorporate data on the age-balance of NDC contributors at the political and consultative levels.
- Provide updates on the implementation of youth engagement activities outlined in the NDC.
- Highlight youth and youth-led organizations included in climate policy-making spaces.
- Commit to conducting annual surveys on youth and climate change, providing a synthesis of the findings from the recent year in the NDC.
- Provide specific actions to address barriers for young people to access green jobs.
NDC Ambassador - Author
