Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has said that climate change poses threats to the economy, clearly not being one of US President Donald Trump’s votaries, and does not share Mr Trump’s view that climate change is a ‘con job’. However, there seems a certain convergence of views, for Mr Trump’s denial is meant as a defence against the increasing calls for climate justice, and Mr Aurangzeb seems on board with the present means of climate finance, which are interest-bearing loans rather than grants or even interest-free loans. As a great boon, developed nations are granting concessional rates, rather than the Shylockian interest rates they charge on aid. Pakistan is pretty chuffed about getting $1 billion from the IMF’s Resilience Support Fund, but that loan carries with it the condition that the borrower already be on an IMF programme.
It should not be forgotten that the countries worst affected, and thus in need of the most aid, are not only not polluters (and thus have not contributed to the problem), but are already heavily indebted. They are more often than not so heavily indebted as to find it difficult to service that debt, because the debt was not contracted for economic reasons, but so that the lender could impose its own political agenda. Those loans were meant to be embezzled by local elites, as a bribe, and they were, leaving future generations to pay. Now the same countries, which are also the heaviest polluters, want to lend to the affectees what they should be giving. They say that they are concerned about establishing governance frameworks, which is a roundabout way of saying that they are concerned about the money being embezzled. They should know, from the kind of lending they did once. One problem with climate finance is that it cannot follow the lines o political obedience. Whereas such discrimination was previously defended, even justified, now it would have to follow the science.
The government needs to be more careful about climate finance than it is. Pakistan is already a heavily indebted country, and the elites have grown rich while the people have not. If that experience is repeated, climate change will bring about a situation where it will not be possible to live in the country, let alone service its debt. Before that happens, the government must change its ways, and prepare in earnest for climate change, rather than exploit to indebt the country more.
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