Page 15 - CMA Journal (Nov-Dec 2025)

Exclusive Interview

Accountants can play a crucial role in ensuring that the
positive impact being made in areas like environment,
health, and education is measured and reported in a Access to finance within
systematic and standardized way. For example, while the countries like Pakistan is
Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan
encourages companies to report their philanthropic critical. Even if industries
activities, it is not mandatory. Accountants have a special
responsibility to highlight and account for these want to adopt cleaner
contributions. Doing so benefits companies, society, and
encourages others to follow suit, enhancing energy or more sustainable
transparency, credibility, and alignment with the ESG
frameworks practices, there are
ICMA: Countries like Pakistan contribute very little additional costs involved,
to global emissions but face some of the harshest
impacts. How can climate finance be made truly fair and international assistance
and effective for countries in this position?
is needed to cover them
Dr. Adil Najam: It is true that developing and less
industrialized countries, such as Pakistan, emit far less
than countries that have been industrialized for a long
time. It is also true that the impacts of climate change are
often particularly harsh on the poorest people living in
these countries. We have seen this in the recent floods of ICMA: The World Wildlife Fund promotes nature-
2022 and 2025 in Pakistan, in drought across Africa, and based solutions globally. How can these approaches
in water stress across Asia. There is a clear climate attract more investment while also delivering real
injustice built into the system where those less benefits to local communities?
responsible for creating the problem are bearing its
Dr. Adil Najam: This is very important because we are
greatest costs.
living in the age of climate change. It is not a distant
When it comes to climate finance, there are two main future; it is happening now. In addition to reducing
points to focus on. At the international level, governments emissions, we must also prepare for the impacts of
of industrialized countries, which are responsible for the climate change. Nature-based solutions are particularly
greatest historical pollution, should be pushed to provide critical in this context.
financing to help developing countries take the
One obvious nature-based solution is planting trees, but
technological leap. This will reduce both current suffering
there is a large number of other ecosystem and
and future emissions. At the same time, access to finance
nature-based solutions that must be harnessed. These
within countries like Pakistan is critical. Even if industries
solutions leverage the bounty of nature to create a
want to adopt cleaner energy or more sustainable
healthier environment instead of working against it.
practices, there are additional costs involved, and
However, human activity has disrupted nature’s balance,
international assistance is needed to cover them.
making such solutions especially important for countries
However, the available climate finance is limited like Pakistan.
compared to the global need. Developing countries
Nature-based solutions also directly benefit local
must also focus on protecting their own people from the
populations, particularly indigenous and vulnerable
immediate impacts of climate change. Floods,
communities. For example, floods in Pakistan are not
heatwaves, and poor air quality affect people differently
only caused by rainfall, melting glaciers, monsoons, and
within the country. Wealthier individuals who lead more
cloudbursts, but the resulting disaster is amplified by the
resource-intensive lives, emit more, so domestic
state of both built and natural infrastructure.
differences in emissions must also be considered.
Nature-based solutions can address these challenges by
In short, internationally we should push for the highly restoring and maintaining natural ecosystems.
industrialized countries to provide more financing, while
The key idea is to consider natural capital — water, soil,
domestically, we must use available resources to reduce
and air — as we do economic capital, using it as a partner
the harmful effects of climate change for our population.
in achieving positive environmental change. From
This includes, for example, designing better cities,
planting trees to cleaning water and recharging
providing shade in Karachi, controlling floods along the
underground aquifers, nature-based solutions improve
Indus, and creating breathable air in Lahore and other
resilience and sustainability.
urban areas.
ICMA’s Chartered Management Accountant, Nov-Dec, 2025 13