ISLAMABAD : (June 1, 2022): Pakistan-China Institute (PCI), in collaboration with Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), hosted a launch event and the inception meeting of the first-of-its-kind “Green China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Alliance”. The conference was attended by over 40 participants and featured 6 panelists including Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman Pakistan-China Institute, Acting Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China Ms. Pang Chunxue, Zhang Jun, CEO, China Three Gorges (CTG) Corporation, Muhammad Aurangzeb, CEO, Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Senator Seemin Ezdi, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, Dr Abid Suleri, Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). The event was moderated by Mustafa Hyder Sayed, Executive Director Pakistan-China Institute.
The goal of establishment of the Green CPEC Alliance with members from both countries’ governments, investors, as well as civil society, and environmental experts, is to support, accelerate and promote this transition within Pakistan and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Alliance aims to green and decarbonize CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) by supporting a re-direction of Chinese infrastructure investments away from emission-intensive investments and towards green infrastructure projects from coal to renewable energy, like wind, solar and hydropower.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, PCI Chairman , in his welcome remarks expressed great pleasure in being part of the inception and thanked the presence of all esteemed guests. During his speech, he pressed upon the urgency of the climate change situation in the world by arguing to prioritize the need for a green Pakistan, including redefining the notion of national security from a military-centric approach to Human Security, cantering on climate change, population planning, food security and water scarcity. . Senator Mushashid also shared his experiences from the COP 26 meeting in Glasgow. He acknowledged that some work was being done on an international level, however, not much progress was made on Green Finance. He made it clear that there was a need to accelerate the efforts required to mitigate the effects of climate change at the community level in Pakistan, referring to his initiatives to launch the first public hearings on environment and climate change in the Pakistan Parliament.
Acting Ambassador of China in Pakistan Ms. Pang Chunxue, expressed her delight to be part of the event. Her remarks revolved around the efforts of China to mitigate climate change threats to Pakistan.
Mr Zhang Jun, CEO of China Three Gorges (CTG) Corporation said that CTG is committed to its mission statement to provide clean energy and build beautiful communities together’.
CTG is committed to expanding its new energy business globally as part of the BRI plan and has established four international business lines: investment, construction, operation, and consultancy. CTG is also playing an important role in the implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is a bilateral agreement between the Chinese and Pakistani governments for regional connectivity and infrastructure development. We believe that the CPEC Agreement will provide huge socio-economic advantages to the people of both China and Pakistan, and we hope that in the future, we will be able to contribute to more clean projects under the CPEC Agreement that will provide even more socio-economic benefits
Muhammad Aurangzeb, CEO of Habib Bank Limited (HBL) appreciated uniqueness of the initiative launched by PCI and SDPI. He said HBL is closely linked with CPEC projects in their financing as well as structuring. commenting on CPEC Phase 2, he remarked that the second phase is all about building further on the first phase of the project which has improved transport infrastructure and alleviated the energy crisis in Pakistan. He also expressed hope that the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) being developed under CPEC, like Rashakai SEZ, would boost industrialization in the country. Seeing this opportunity, HBL has already opened a branch in Rashakai.
Dr Abid Suleri, Executive Director SDPI termed the launch of ‘Green CPEC Alliance’ a timely initiative since humanity is facing the question of survival in lieu of the looming threat of climate change. Appreciating China’s role in leading the initiatives to combat climate change, he said China has much to offer to developing as well as developed countries in terms of enhancing their capacity to combat climate change. He nited that the world has now realized how urgent this is to give attention to this threat.
In her closing remarks,senator Seemi Ezdi, chairperson of the Senate committee on climate change said that Pakistan contributes less than 1% to climate change but is the 8th most affected country in the world. It is the need of the hour, she maintained, to plan for the future since it is the issue that affects the whole of humanity, not only the countries responsible for it. She expressed happiness with China’s desire to pursue green development through the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
