As someone committed to climate action, I believe deeply in the urgency of decarbonising our world. But I also know that for countries like Pakistan, the path to sustainability cannot come at the cost of survival.

In today’s race towards net-zero, Pakistan is being asked to sprint before it can even walk – expected to decarbonise, expand industrial exports and eradicate poverty all at once. The country faces an impossible expectation that exposes the deep flaws in the current global discourse on a just transition. The current global model for just transition often fails to account for the complex economic and social realities of developing nations. It risks turning climate justice into an empty slogan which only asks the poorest to sacrifice the most.

Unlike the Western economies that industrialised on the back of fossil fuels or China, which grew before its environmental reforms, Pakistan is being asked to green its economy without the historical wealth, infrastructure or policy space others enjoyed. Simply adopting best practices from developed nations overlooks the critical fact that solutions cannot be copy-pasted when histories are not, and much of the global climate playbook is based on what worked for developed........

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