Shehbaz seeks concessional finance for 35pc clean energy target by 2035

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan needs about $138 billion by 2035 for low-carbon power generation, and a further $50 billion to replace coal-based electricity with solar, as he pressed international partners for concessional loans and affordable technology at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya on Wednesday.

He was speaking at a high-level session titled "Clean Energy Transition by 2035: Powering the Future", held on the sidelines of the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Express Tribune, quoting a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted the session.

Clean energy sources now supply nearly 55 per cent of Pakistan's energy mix, the prime minister told the gathering. He said he had inaugurated a key section of the country's seventh nuclear power plant before leaving for Turkiye, a project that will add 1,200 megawatts to the national grid.

On transport, he said the recently launched auto policy aims to make 30 per cent of newly sold vehicles electric by 2030, backed by incentives including lower tariffs. All government buses and motorcycles bought in future will be electric, he said, and more than one in ten motorcycles sold in Pakistan this year was electric, a first for the country.

"35 by 35 will be achieved only if finance flows at the speed of ambition through concessional capital and the transfer of affordable technology," he said, referring to the target of 35 per cent clean energy by 2035.

He said expanding grids, building reliable storage and making new technology affordable all demand heavy investment that indebted developing economies cannot carry alone. He called for a development model that balances growth with environmental protection. "Let us resolve to power our economies without impoverishing our people and light up our homes without darkening our planet," he said.

The Express Tribune reported that the prime minister is also due to deliver Pakistan's national statement at COP31, making the case for climate justice for countries exposed to a changing climate, and to meet several world leaders. Senator Sherry Rehman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and the prime minister's adviser Tariq Fatemi travelled with him, the newspaper reported. He reached Turkiye a day before the session for the World Leaders' Summit, according to the Express Tribune.

The Associated Press of Pakistan reported that he used the session to reaffirm Pakistan's commitment to a sustainable energy future and to seek financing and technology transfers for developing countries meeting their climate commitments.