KARACHI: Pakistan needs to move climate finance closer to local governments to protect communities from increasingly severe weather shocks, a senior government adviser said on Saturday, as policymakers warned that centralized approaches were failing to reach those most exposed.

Pakistan has been facing increasingly erratic weather patterns, including frequent heatwaves, unprecedented rains, storms, cyclones, floods and droughts.

The country has stepped up efforts to strengthen national climate resilience following devastating floods in 2022 and 2025 that displaced millions, destroyed infrastructure and farmland and caused multibillion-dollar economic losses.

Khurram Schehzad, adviser to the finance minister, emphasized the importance of decentralizing climate action by examining the role of local governments in climate finance during a panel discussion held at the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi.

“There is an urgent need to shift climate governance and climate finance closer to the communities most exposed to climate risks,” he said, according to a statement circulated after the discussion.

“While global climate discourse often focuses on pledges and frameworks, climate resilience is ultimately built through execution, access to finance and delivery at the local level,” he added.

The discussion focused on how cities and districts could be empowered to design and bankroll locally grounded adaptation projects and bridge gaps between national climate commitments and on-the-ground delivery.

Panelists said Pakistan’s climate response must move beyond strategy documents toward practical financing mechanisms that enable households, farmers, small businesses and local administrations to invest in resilience.

Schehzad highlighted several pathways, including climate-smart agricultural lending for smallholders, energy transition finance for households and micro-enterprises, affordable climate-resilient housing, results-based financing instruments and risk-sharing frameworks to de-risk private investment.

Participants also pointed to structural challenges, including planning bottlenecks and limited fiscal space at the local level, calling for reforms to simplify approval processes for small-scale adaptation projects.