CO2 Emissions from Pakistan’s Energy sector

Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to the adverse impacts of climate change, as well as air pollution. A report by German Watch in 2019 ranked it as the fifth most climate change-affected country over the past two decades, while IQAir ranked Pakistan’s air as the second most polluted in 2020. To reduce these impacts, the country needs to take extensive adaptation and mitigation measures, while transforming the energy sector towards less polluting and carbon neutral options. 

As a developing nation, it is also bound to have increased energy consumption for ensuring better living conditions for its citizens and because of this, it is important for Pakistan to undergo a rapid transition away from highly polluting fossil fuels towards clean forms of energy to contribute to global efforts of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to protect public health by reducing the air pollution burden within the country. 

Pakistan’s energy sector is already going through a transition over the past few years but the utilization of oil for power generation has been replaced by coal. However, it would be wise to comprehensively assess and streamline this transition in Pakistan which will impact efforts for reduction of environmental, ecological, climate change and economic burden now and for future generations.

This report is an attempt to understand the CO2 emission profile of the energy sector in Pakistan. Before moving to that step, we need to understand the primary energy supply and fossil fuel consumption pattern across sectors.

Dawar Butt, Lauri Myllyvirta and Sunil Dahiya

Pakistan