Prime Minister Imran Khan’s coal moratorium announcement gains plaudits but the lack of reaction from investors in coal plants, mainly Chinese, raises troubling questions of the way forward. In a surprising turn of events, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, announced a moratorium on coal on December 12, at the Climate...

Ahead ofthe 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties(COP 26) scheduled at the end of the year in Glasgow, many countries have been upping the ante on the ‘green agenda’ to deliver new ambitious commitments. Pakistan has also expressed strong support for advancing renewable energy and fast-tracking energy transition, which is...

In August of this year, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched an ambitious programme to foster the energy transition in emerging Asia, the Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) for Southeast Asia. The ETM is a blended finance facility that seeks to facilitate early coal-fired power plant retirements while replacing them with cleaner...

Pakistan plans to expand its power sector substantially. It has enormous solar photovoltaic (PV) potential and all the necessary conditions for its implementation such as high radiation yield, a regulatory framework, a favourable architectural landscape and strong demand forces that support its development. The Alternative Renewable...

EXTREME cold weather across the country, a domestic gas supply gap of 1,300mcf per day and skyrocketing imported LNG prices that Pakistan can ill afford — it is a nightmare for the government. The prime minister’s recent directive to gas utilities to build an LNG terminal by next winter may be rooted in the right …...

In a conventional approach, environmental degradation caused by development is considered nothing more than an externality. Planners and implementers disdain the pain suffered by the locals because of environmental externalities. They consider it as an inevitable but trivial price that must be paid to achieve economic growth. Marked with...

Pakistan’s energy sector has been facing potential losses and distortions in the distribution sector for years now, costing the national exchequer billions annually. In 2019 alone, DISCOs posted a loss of Rs171 billion due to less recovery of pending bills and another Rs38 billion due to technical losses. On average, nearly 20 percent...

The global spike in energy prices, starting with lifting of coronavirus-induced restrictions and intensifying with the Russian war against Ukraine, has been the largest since the 1973 oil crisis. The historic highs in the prices of oil, gas and coal have triggered the risk of what economists call stagflation. Stagflation happens when all...

Energy planning in Pakistan is mostly carried out on an ad-hoc basis as a reaction to an urgent crisis. This hasty and short-sighted approach has not only caused irreversible damage to our environment and local communities but also exposed our national exchequer to external energy supply chain shocks. Lack of attention to address the...

Ranked as the 21st country in the world in terms of natural gas consumption, Pakistan is currently facing a severe supply crisis, which has intensified with the advent of the winter season. The demand for gas has soared above 2.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) while the supply is around 1.7 bcfd. However, the …...