Why is Pakistan still groping for climate finance?
At every international climate summit, Pakistan makes the same argument. The country contributes a small share of global emissions but faces floods, heatwaves, and droughts. The 2022 floods turned a third of the country into a lake. The gap between what Pakistan needs and what it receives is now a fixed part of its diplomacy. But a question is rarely asked in Islamabad or Karachi: if the money arrived tomorrow, who would know what to do with it?
Climate finance is not a cheque
Climate finance is not a cheque. It is a discipline where climate science, economics, banking, public policy, and project appraisal meet. A grant proposal must pass a cost-benefit test to survive a donor's review. A bankable renewable energy project needs someone who can model cash flows, price risk, and structure debt. Pakistan's deficit is not only a deficit of dollars. It is a deficit of people who can speak all these languages at once.
The irony in Pakistan's climate conversation
Here lies an uncomfortable irony. Climate science is indispensable. But in Pakistan, the climate conversation has often been treated as the property of scientists and environmental science graduates. An economist who asks about mitigation costs, or a banker who asks about adaptation returns, can be politely dismissed as non-technical. This word does quiet damage. It tells capable professionals that this field is not for them.
Why the distinction matters
The distinction matters, and it cuts both ways. Knowing how the atmosphere behaves does not tell you how to structure a blended finance facility. Knowing how to run a balance sheet does not tell you whether a flood defence will hold. Neither qualification alone makes anyone a climate finance specialist. We should also be honest about a related assumption. A degree in environmental science does not automatically signal deep climate expertise. Climate change entered many Pakistani curricula only recently, and dedicated coursework was historically thin in several programmes. This is not an accusation against any university or graduate. It is a reminder that the label on a degree is not the same as the knowledge behind it.
Untapped talent in banking and finance
Meanwhile, a large reservoir of talent sits untouched. Pakistan has bankers, treasury officers, investment analysts, corporate finance managers, and economists who understand capital, risk, and return. With structured, multidisciplinary training, many could become the climate finance specialists Pakistan lacks. Instead, the perception that this territory belongs to environmental professionals keeps them away. That is not a minor missed opportunity. It is a self-inflicted shortage.
What climate finance really means
Part of the confusion lies in how narrowly climate finance is understood. To some it means grants from rich countries. To others it means donor assistance, or private investment in solar and wind. To still others it is a synonym for adaptation funding. It is none of these alone. It is the craft of combining public budgets, concessional loans, grants, commercial capital, and guarantees so that a climate objective becomes financially possible. That requires asking hard questions. What does the project cost? What is the present value of its benefits? Who bears the risk? Is it environmentally meaningful, economically justified, and financially sustainable all at once?
Real examples from Sindh and municipalities
Consider a farmer in Sindh choosing between heat-tolerant seed and a new irrigation system, or a municipality weighing flood-resilient drainage against the cost of repeated damage. Consider a bank deciding whether a rooftop solar loan portfolio is sound. Each case needs the scientist's understanding of the hazard, the economist's valuation of the benefit, and the financier's eye for repayment. Remove any one and the decision becomes guesswork.
Institutional challenges and green banking
This is where the problem turns institutional. The State Bank has issued green banking guidelines, and ESG expectations and a national green taxonomy are taking shape. These are welcome steps, and it would be unfair to say nothing is happening. But rules do not implement themselves. A taxonomy is only as useful as the people who apply it. If banks, businesses, and government departments lack professionals who grasp both the financial instruments and the climate science underneath, compliance becomes trial and error, with each institution interpreting new requirements through whatever limited understanding it happens to have.
Efforts to fill the vacuum
Some are trying to fill the vacuum. Climate Action Skills Foundation, a Karachi-based organisation, has announced an Advanced Certificate in Climate Finance, built on its own modest resources. Such efforts deserve respect. But a cohort of fifteen or twenty participants cannot answer a national shortage. The real question is why our universities and academic policymakers have not yet offered a comprehensive pathway of their own.
The way forward for universities
Climate finance should become a recognised major, specialisation, or interdisciplinary programme. Finance and economics students should be able to elect climate science, environmental studies, and climate policy. Environmental science students should be able to study investment analysis, economics, and financial management. Leading private universities, with their flexibility and resources, are well placed to pioneer this. The aim is not to replace scientists with bankers, or the reverse. It is to produce professionals fluent in the language, limits, and demands of both.
Conclusion
Pakistan cannot build climate finance capacity by keeping science, economics, and finance in separate silos. We have asked the world to pay for the damage. Now we must ask who will understand the bill, structure the solution, and spend the money wisely.
