Enhancing and Enabling Climate Ambition for SLCP In Pakistan

The CCAC is currently supporting several projects in Pakistan to enhance SLCP mitigation, including the project Enhancing and Enabling Climate Ambition for SLCP Management, implemented by Clean Air Asia and Stockholm Environment Institute. This project developed action plans to reduce SLCPs and air pollutants; improved the capacity of government entities in four provinces; and worked towards the inclusion of an SLCP emission reduction target within Pakistan’s next NDC update.

This project further developed work done in phase one (under a previous project supported by the CCAC) which supported the Ministry of Climate Change of Pakistan to develop the Pakistan Clean Air Policy, using SEI’s Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) tool. The Pakistan Clean Air policy highlighted the importance of engaging with and building the capacity of subnational governments and led to this second phase of work in helping four provinces – Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Punjab – to develop clean air action plans, which collectively support national SLCP Mitigation targets.

One result of the first phase of the project was a finding that the percentage of emissions contributions from major sources to air pollution varied across each province, and that provinces were at different levels of preparedness for clean air action.

“For example, in Punjab and Sindh provinces, road transport and industrial energy demand contribute more to total PM 2.5 emissions compared to Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. What we've seen for Balochistan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are that the major contributor is the residential sector since they use a lot more traditional biomass stoves, they also have larger contributions from crop burning. This was based on the Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution and Climate Change Mitigation in Pakistan Report which was developed under the first phase of the project” said Enrique Cosep, Air Quality Specialist at Clean Air Asia.

This signalled the need for provinces to have clean air action plans tailored to their local contexts.

"We took existing data from Pakistan’s LEAP assessment and cross-checked it against the National Compendium of Environmental Statistics. We consulted stakeholders for necessary adjustments, including available provincial-level data, so that the results from LEAP would reflect local conditions. We incorporated feedback gathered from stakeholders to develop the provincial clean air action plans,” said Enrique Cosep, Air Quality Specialist at Clean Air Asia.

The project also provided training on the use of the LEAP-IBC tool to develop an analysis and assisting with an evaluation of mitigation actions.
“The provincial plans outline priority implementation pathways for each province which further support the mitigation measures from the national clean air plan. This helps provincial governments to identify priority programs and strategically mobilize resources,” said Dang Espita Casanova, Clean Air Asia’s Air Quality Program Manager.

To support the integration of SLCP mitigation into Pakistan’s next NDC update, the project produced a recommendation report and policy brief which indicate five key points which can be adopted by the Ministry of Environment.

The project also organised a webinar to showcase the development of the provincial cleaner action plans. National and provincial stakeholders from key sectors took part in the webinar, which also featured an introduction to the development of Pakistan's Methane Roadmap. A flyer produced by the project covering the development of Pakistan’s provincial clean air action plans can be downloaded here.

Pakistan’s continuation with this second phase of work in conducting comprehensive SLCP planning at national and provincial levels – alongside methane roadmap planning – shows the country is taking the opportunity to include SLCPs in its climate and clean air mitigation priorities seriously.