NEW YORK, July 15 (ABC): Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Friday while underlining the need to create mechanisms to provide the high upfront capital costs to developing countries on affordable terms said that developing countries should also have level playing field for economic recovery.
Speaking at an event of the United Nations on Sustainable Development Goals in New York, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal said that the world is facing three major crises at the same time, which include corona, climate change and war conflict.
“The current crisis has hit Pakistan the hardest,” he added. He further pointed out that poverty in the world is on the rise again and therefore loans should be given to the developing countries to save them from economic crisis. Ahsan Iqbal has called for equitable access to natural gas and a financing mechanism to offset the high energy prices for the most severely affected countries.
He said there is a need to accelerate the momentum in the construction of renewable energy projects. The Minister said Pakistan’s policy is driven by three objectives: universal access to energy; doubling the share of renewable energy; and doubling the rate of energy efficiency and conservation.
He said our aim is that by 2030, 60 percent of our energy will be clean and renewable energy. Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan’s solar and wind power potential is over 40,000 MW. He said today, in fact, many countries, especially developing countries, are facing an energy emergency.
The Minister said climate coalitions” have been created to provide finance to several emerging economies to induce them away from coal-fired plants. He said such incentives have not yet been offered to those developing countries which have refrained from utilizing their coal resources.