Meeting with parliamentarians on “Proposed parliamentary caucus on Energy Transition in Pakistan”

Islamabad, August 4, 2021: Parliamentarians from different political parties joined together to discuss the importance of green parliamentary caucus for combating climate crisis and facilitate Pakistan in its transition to clean energy resources, in a meeting organized by Rural Development Policy Institute (RDPI) and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on August 4, 2021.

This was the second caucus meeting, where members of the proposed parliamentary caucus on clean energy agreed to continue consultations with all stakeholders for the formation of the caucus.

Parliamentarians and representatives of civil society and donor organizations highlighted the need to explore clean and green sources of energy keeping in view the best practices followed by different countries.

All participants unanimously agreed that the process of caucus formation should be steered by the parliamentarians themselves while SDPI and RDPI could play their role in facilitating the process by providing secretarial support and research assistance on policy gaps as highlighted by the parliamentarians throughout the process of caucus formation. Both organizations offered to facilitate meetings of the parliamentarians for working out a framework to deliberate issues regarding the caucus formation which may include discussions on its governance structure, financial challenges and identifying goalposts.

The participants raised different issues based on their respective experiences in order to help explore linkages between different sectors such as clean energy and climate change as well as other global urgencies which include changing weather patterns, droughts, floods, and threats to food security. An important consensus built during the meeting was that the formation of a parliamentary caucus on clean energy could play a significant role in preparing a way forward to deal with all of the above mentioned issues in a holistic manner.

In his presentation on the best practices being observed across the world for the efficient functioning of parliamentary caucuses Mr. Badar Alam from RDPI referred to several bills passed by the women’s parliamentary caucus and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) task force in Pakistan.

During his discussion, he also mentioned the parliamentarians’ guide published by UNDP that identifies the role and responsibilities of respective parliamentarians in a caucus. However, the caucus formulation can face critical challenges since the members come from different political backgrounds with each having a separate agenda, he said.

Dr. Abid Suleri, ED of SDPI, appreciated the role played by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the capacity building of the parliament and the recent initiative of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) with the British Council.

Among senators, MNAs and CSO representatives who actively took part in the discussion were; Ms. Rukhsana Naveed, MNA, Ms. Nafisa Shah, MNA, Ms. Saima Nadeem, MNA and Convener of SDG 7, Ms. Andleeb Abbass, MNA, Ms. Romina Khurshid Alam, MNA, Senator Rubina Khalid, Ms. Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro, MNA, Mr. Sher Ali Arbab, MNA, Sen. Sitara Ayaz, Sen. Faisal Javed, Ms. Aliya Hamza Malik, MNA, Ms. Shahida Rehmani, MNA, Ms. Saira Bano, MNA, Ms. Ammara Durrani from UNDP, and Mr. Nadeem Ahmad, Policy Manager of Climate Change, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.