KARACHI: Pakistan needs to move climate finance closer to local governments to protect communities from increasingly severe weather shocks, a senior government adviser said on Saturday, as policymakers warned that centralized approaches were failing to reach those most exposed.
Pakistan has been facing increasingly erratic weather patterns, including frequent heatwaves, unprecedented rains, storms, cyclones, floods and droughts.
The country has stepped up efforts to strengthen national climate resilience following devastating floods in 2022 and 2025 that displaced millions, destroyed infrastructure and farmland and caused multibillion-dollar economic losses.
Khurram Schehzad, adviser to the finance minister, emphasized the importance of decentralizing climate action by examining the role of local governments in climate finance during a panel discussion held at the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi.
“There is an urgent need to shift climate governance and climate finance closer to the communities most exposed to climate risks,” he said, according to a statement circulated after the discussion.
