ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan after writing a letter to the Saudi King about his climate change initiatives has now written to Microsoft Chief CEO Bill Gates praising him for writing a book on climate change. The title of the book written by Bill Gates is “How to Avoid Climate Disasters”.
Prime Minister Imran Khan in his letter called the book very interesting and said it provides policy-oriented analysis on critical issues of climate change challenges facing the global community.
“Pakistan as you are aware is a country that is at the forefront of this challenge and is among the top countries that have been continuously affected by climate change over the past two decades,” the prime minister said in his letter.
The prime minister further said that the impact of changing monsoon patterns, strange weather events, melting Himalayan glaciers and rising sea levels – all add to our vulnerability.
He drew attention to Bill Gates that at the same time Pakistan is a very low contributor to this problem and noted it by saying that Pakistan adds less than 1 percent to global greenhouse gas emissions.
Prime Minister Imran Khan while explaining the challenges faced by Pakistan said that, as a country, Pakistan seeks to move towards a climate-sensitive economic growth that relies on strong international cooperation and partnerships.
Praise Bill Gates for writing a book on climate change
He further observed that in this spirit his government has pledged to offer climate solutions to the world through “Nature-based solutions”, towards a climate-compatible growth trajectory.
The prime minister, when drawing attention to Bill Gates for his success in planting one billion trees in KP province from 2014-18, said that his government is now starting to plant another 10 billion trees across Pakistan including the restoration of more than one million hectares of degraded forest. forest and expansion of protected areas.
The prime minister said that these initiatives have shown that they not only protect nature and restore ecosystems to fight climate change, but also expand ecotourism and create thousands of green jobs for youth and local communities.
Prime Minister Khan says his government is committed to changing its energy mix to a clean, low-carbon direction.
“We are targeting 60% of our energy to be cleaned by 2030, which will require a massive expansion of solar, wind and water power plants in the country,” the prime minister said in his letter.
He told Bill Gates that recently his government had suspended two financially negotiated coal projects and replaced them with the inclusion of hydroelectric power which shows the strong political commitment of the government.
The prime minister said Pakistan was also transitioning the transportation section which targets 30% of vehicles to be electric by 2030.
He also said that at the same time the growing impact was forcing his government to adapt to climate change. “On this front, nature leaves us no choice,” he said.
The prime minister said that they must invest their economic resources to build early warning systems, the rapid deployment of climate-smart agriculture and improve the efficiency of a dwindling and increasingly unpredictable freshwater resource.
The prime minister offers Bill Gates results-oriented dialogue and collaboration between a team of experts from both sides, which he thinks can help each other advance our common vision.
Prime Minister Khan said that this could include developing partnerships towards accessing and disseminating the best available technologies for clean energy and electric vehicles as well as cooperation towards climate-resilient agriculture.
He said that the challenge of climate change is a challenge that requires white-scale collaboration, trusted cooperation and a shared green vision for development across the country.
“I believe that the world has no choice but to step on this path and define a new development paradigm for the 21st century through renewed international cooperation and partnerships,” the prime minister concluded in his letter.
