THE citizens of Pakistan have spoken. But is the state listening? In the aftermath of DawnMedia’s Breathe Pakistan conference held earlier this year, a Climate Justice Declaration has now been drawn up. It outlines a clear path for how the country must rethink its relationship with the environment and respond to the climate crisis.

But while the citizens call for transformation, the government continues to respond with tokenism. Labelled as Pakistan’s first-ever ‘climate budget’, the FY26 budget should have marked a turning point. Instead, it has revealed the government’s shallow engagement with the climate challenge.

As noted, the budget resorts to greenwashing —........

© Dawn