In pursuit of our members’ goal for sustainable growth, OICCI organized the first in a series of Industry Dialogs to discuss various climate actions needed for Pakistan to achieve the Nationally Determined Commitments made at COP26. The Industry Dialog builds on the effort started by the OICCI earlier this year through the Pakistan Climate Conference, which built on learnings from COP 26 to identify and implement efforts needed to promote positive climate actions and reduce climate change impact in Pakistan.
The Industry Dialog brought together local climate experts, policy makers and corporate decision-makers to share learnings and best practices to help Pakistan reduce climate impact. The speakers at the event were Waqar Hussain Phulpoto, Focal Person, Department of Climate Change, Government of Sindh as well Ahmad Rafay Alam, prominent Environment Lawyer.
Mr. Amir Paracha, Vice President, OICCI, started the event by highlighting the very real and visible economic impact of climate change. He emphasized that OICCI will continue its efforts to lay the foundation for developing an action plan to help Pakistan meet its global climate commitments and ensure sustainable growth for the economy.
Waqar Hussain Phulpoto summarized the working points of the draft Sindh Climate Change Policy along with its implementation framework. He further explained sectors where ad-hoc measures were being along with the sectors where mitigation measures were being taken. He also mentioned how corporations could play their role and the bodies they can approach in bringing on-board the industrial sector.
Ahmad Rafay Alam gave a brief introduction about global warming and the impact of green-house gas emissions. He emphasized on moving out of the future mind frame of climate change reforms and moving into the present tense. In terms of actions, he emphasized on how climate change threatens the availability of natural resources and the imperativeness of companies to identify their sectoral challenges and address them in becoming more climatically efficient.
M. Abdul Aleem, CE/Secretary General OICCI, concluded the event by emphasizing the importance of our members’ responsibilities to work towards building a more sustainable environment and inviting them to interact more on this issue with relevant policymakers and working in tandem towards mitigating the impact of climate change.