Pakistan is taken into account one of many growing international locations and, as such, is striving to grow to be a extra industrialized nation with out leaving its deeply rooted agricultural financial system. Through the mid-60s, spanning over a decade, Pakistan made nice strides in that course. Later, this momentum was misplaced as a result of political instability and poor planning by the bureaucrats and policymakers. Within the following many years, unplanned industrial developments and an absence of curiosity in upgrading applied sciences not solely declined the vegetation’ productiveness but additionally created environmental challenges. The vegetation have been thought-about the money cows, and thus, investments have been made at simply the naked minimal ranges to maintain them working. As a consequence of this method and the shortage of environmental coverage, industrial vegetation have grow to be one of many important sources of air pollution. Throughout the identical interval, the Pakistani center class continued to develop, and their want to undertake Western existence led to the elevated use of non-public transportation (vehicles, bikes), air-con, electrical/fuel home equipment, processed meals, and different luxurious objects as standing symbols. In consequence, main metropolitan cities have grow to be densely populated and sources of great pollution, together with extremely elevated ranges of carbon dioxide (CO2), the first trigger of world warming, in addition to flooding, earthquakes, droughts, mudslides, and different excessive pure catastrophic occasions.
To help its industrial actions and the unstoppable enhance within the private transportation desire by the rising center class, Pakistan closely imports oil and fuel (fossil fuels) from the GCC and different international locations, making a super-thick haze, heavy fog, and smoke, that are important sources of alarming public well being, notably respiratory diseases. This development has led to visitors congestion in main cities. In consequence, an ever-expanding panorama of continual well being crises has emerged. For all this, air pollution is the foundation trigger and is intensifying COPD circumstances and different pulmonary illnesses in all ages group and socio-economic phase of the inhabitants. If this development stays unchecked, it’ll have a big influence on the nation’s fragile public well being system and exacerbate its results, as one of many main contributors to international warming.
Each society’s high quality of life and prosperity depend upon its financial development by means of industrial actions, which require energy provides. For its energy era, Pakistan is closely depending on fossil fuels (coal, oil & fuel), that are the first confirmed sources of air pollution and contributors to unhealthy air high quality, making it troublesome to breathe. At the moment, Pakistan consumes roughly 200-210 million barrels of oil per 12 months, primarily imported from GCC member international locations. In line with the State Financial institution of Pakistan, in 2024, the nation spent a whopping $5.1 billion (roughly $ 20.40 per individual) on oil imports alone.
The trade consultants declare that for each barrel of oil, 0.43-0.45 metric tons of CO2 are generated. Because of this from oil alone, 90 to 100 million metric tons (MT) of CO2 are emitted in Pakistan. With the renewed effort to grow to be a extra industrialized nation, aiming to spice up its exports and scale back dependence on agriculture, Pakistan is poised to proceed rising its carbon footprint and CO2 emissions, the first sources of air pollution and local weather change.
In line with the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the entire variety of automobiles (together with vehicles, pickup vehicles, heavy-duty hauling vehicles, buses, and many others.) is rising at a price of 10% per 12 months. In line with CEIC (Census & Financial Data Heart, primarily based in Hong Kong) and different knowledge reporting businesses, as of 2022, the entire variety of automobiles (registered & unregistered) in Pakistan was about 23.6 million models. In Pakistan, automobiles alone generate greater than 100 million MT of CO2 per 12 months. Nonetheless, with the present conservative projection of a few 10% development price, by 2050, Pakistan’s automobile inhabitants will attain about 400 million models. Because of this by 2050, if EVs and inexperienced applied sciences adoption will not be accelerated, as much as 180 million MT of carbon dioxide shall be generated by the automobiles alone!
Apart from the transportation trade, there are different sources of CO2 emitters, like the facility vegetation (utilizing coal, oil & fuel), chemical vegetation, biomass vegetation, metal, cement factories, and different heavy industries. Metal and cement vegetation not solely eat an exceedingly excessive quantity of power of their manufacturing processes, however they’re additionally among the many most pollution-generating industries. In line with a latest examine by the “World Carbon Undertaking,” cement is reported to be essentially the most energy-intensive industrial product globally. By conservative estimates, Pakistan has generated about 14 million MT of CO2 from this trade alone in 2018. In line with trade consultants, Pakistan is among the many high thirty (30) CO2 emitters of the world, producing over 200 million MT within the pre-COVID 12 months. By the following decade, it’ll attain over 420 million MT of CO2 emissions if it stays unchecked. In line with the Swiss Air High quality Index (AQI) and different worldwide organizations, Lahore, the hometown of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has been reported as some of the polluted cities on the planet, with an AQI ranking of over 120. CO2 emissions usually are not solely a big supply of air pollution but additionally liable for the local weather change that Pakistan is experiencing, as evidenced by devastating earthquakes, torrential rains, flooding, landslides, excessive warmth circumstances, droughts, and water depletion from lakes and reservoirs.
No nation can certainly stay with out cement and metal to proceed rising its financial system, supporting its improvement, and enhancing its way of life. Thus, in at the moment’s industrial world, the one option to stay sustainably and preserve development whereas lowering its carbon footprint is thru the adoption of confirmed, common, dependable, and sustainable expertise. Up to now, along with the pure means of photosynthesis by vegetation, carbon seize & storage (CCS) expertise has proven excellent outcomes. It’s getting used very efficiently commercially in a number of European international locations. Nonetheless, as a result of its continued technological breakthroughs and exemplary successes underneath each situation, it requires multilevel collaborations involving governments, policymakers, traders, multilateral donors, trade leaders, and the non-public sector.
Beneath the present authorities, Pakistan seems dedicated to addressing the ever-increasing air pollution by devising environmental insurance policies to curb and scale back pollution, notably CO2 emissions. The previous government-initiated tree plantation, on an enormous scale (10 billion bushes), didn’t materialize.
Bushes do certainly assist scale back atmospheric CO2, however ranging from seedlings takes a really very long time to reap the advantages from the tree plantation scheme. One should do not forget that over 10 years after the plantation, solely 60 to 65% of the planted bushes survive. In line with exhaustive analysis by the US Division of Agriculture (USDA), a mature tree (3-5 years outdated) absorbs ~21 kg of CO2 per 12 months. For each MT of CO2 absorption (per 12 months), about 50 bushes are wanted. Thus, for each 100 million MT of CO2, Pakistan will want about 5 billion wholesome bushes to soak up the CO2 emissions generated simply from the automobiles (presently producing about 100 million MT of CO2 per 12 months).
Though tree plantation is a superb pure manner not solely to soak up the atmospheric CO2 but additionally by means of its naturally built-in photosynthesis course of, it converts it into oxygen (O2), the lifeline for all of the residing organisms, together with human beings. Since industrial actions and transportation can’t be stopped to attend for the plantation to achieve maturity, one of the best resolution is to make use of carbon seize and storage expertise (CCS). Utilizing this expertise, CO2 is captured at its level of manufacturing (factories and energy vegetation). After seize, it should be transported by way of a pipeline or different means, similar to tank vehicles or vessels, to the storage websites. Sometimes, storage websites are within the ocean or underground. These applied sciences are already being efficiently used within the EU and the Scandinavian international locations with few challenges.
Like every trendy expertise, CCS expertise requires important investments in its infrastructure and capabilities, which aren’t presently obtainable in growing international locations, together with Pakistan. Because of this Pakistan should method the developed international locations which are presently utilizing this expertise and are keen to share it. Since international warming is a worldwide problem, it might be an important initiative if the UN spearheaded this mission by making a consortium of CCS expertise corporations and international locations, directing them to switch the expertise to growing international locations, in addition to poor nations. Moreover, multilateral donor businesses and funding bankers needs to be introduced on board to fund these initiatives at zero value, or at a price equal to their CO2 emissions, or a fraction of the revenues generated by means of their vegetation. This shall be a big landmark and milestone for the UN, and it is going to be as memorable as its creation after the Second World Struggle. By sponsoring and underwriting this mission (CCS), the UN won’t solely assist international locations that lack entry to expertise and monetary means to scale back their CO2 emissions however will even contribute to the collective discount of the world’s carbon footprint and collectively attain the carbon-neutral goal of 2050.
This blueprint for tackling international warming shall be a profitable pathway for each nation in creating extra inclusive and honest circumstances for respiratory wholesome air, with out sacrificing the willpower of the free spirit to proceed pursuing and advancing the frontiers of excellence in expertise, well being, and high quality of life.
