At the COP27 summit last week, Pakistani leadership, representing the G77 umbrella group of developing countries, called on developed countries to increase their financial support for helping developing countries recover from and adapt to climate disasters (AP News). While Pakistan is only responsible for 0.4% of the world’s historic emissions, it has borne the brunt of the impacts of climate change, ranking as the eighth most climate-stressed country. Climate-fueled flooding left one-third of Pakistan underwater in August, killing 1,739 people, damaging or destroying two million homes, and displacing hundreds of thousands (BBC, AP News). The flooding is estimated to have caused more than $30 billion in economic losses. "The dystopia has already come to our doorstep," Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s Climate Minister, told reporters (Reuters). 

Pakistan’s leaders underlined the need for a restructuring of international financial institutions to better respond to future climate disasters. "There is a recognition [at COP27] that we are facing a new climate normal for the world. But there still isn't a recognition that the financial system that's been running the world . . . is not going to be able to bail out the millions that are dying and in need,” Rehman said (Reuters). Pakistan also used its high-profile platform as one of two co-chairs of the conference to call for debt relief for poorer nations. The nation’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari noted that “most climate-stressed countries on the planet are also debt stressed, and that debt is owed to developed countries.” Debt relief would enable poorer nations to put more money to clean energy and climate adaptation (AP News).