Page 20 - CMA Journal (May-Jun 2026)

A r t ic les S ec t ion

Climate Finance Transparency in Pakistan Project Planning involves the process of project Public Access to data is limited. Pakistan lacks a Suggestions and Recommendations • They can also support reporting and assurance for
green
uni ed government data source where every project's
selection and consultation. This phase has moderate to
bonds,
funds,
and
sukuk,
climate
To have better climate nance transparency, Pakistan
weak transparency. This is because these documents
data is publicly available at all times and is updated
carbon-market projects to reduce greenwashing.
are available on the sites of international bodies and regularly, so that the general public can track the must do the following:
the Government, but when these documents are sent projects. It will improve accountability and reduce the 1) Make a Uni ed Climate Finance portal. This portal Conclusion
to the ministries, they are not binding, for example, the risk of leakage of funds. should be legally binding, and data, instead of Investing in climate nance is a remarkable rst step;
Author Co-Author National Adaptation Plan. UNEP and GCF backed it, Global Climate Finance Transparency being scattered in documents, should be however, we need to understand that climate nance
comprehensive,
and
machine-readable
Muhammad Umair, ACMA Abdul Moiz and the cabinet even approved it; however, the highlighting the number of disbursements, where without transparency will be incapable of producing
Co-Founder & Partner Research & Advisory implementation lacked the necessary regulatory Practices they were allocated, and what impact they led to. remarkable outcomes. E ective climate nance
Faizan Umair Associate at Faizan Umair mechanisms like Statutory Regulatory Orders, which Globally, countries such as the UK, Germany, and 2) Quarterly or Semiannual funds disbursement requires collaboration more than secrecy. A better
Danial & Co. (FAUD) Danial & Co. (FAUD) prevented the dedicated budget allocation according Bangladesh have developed robust transparency reports’ publication. As funds are heavily climate is not only the government’s responsibility, but
to NAP by ministries (Sheikh).
mechanisms. The UK manages its International Climate underutilized, quarterly and semiannual reports will it is a collective responsibility of every citizen. To foster
Allocation refers to budget disclosure and the criteria Finance really well and publishes an annual report lead to faster utilization of funds and more this joint e ort, transparency is of prime importance
for classifying projects as Adaptation, Mitigation, and tracking the 15 KPI’s and has independent reviews of initiatives. because investing without outcomes dies down.
Supporting areas. After the establishment of the its portfolios by ICAI (UK Foreign, Commonwealth & 3) Annual Citizen Climate reports. These reports will Pakistan cannot a ord to lose its funds for an
Climate budget tagging system, transparency in Development O ce et al.). Similarly, in Germany, at the enable the general public to access and understand environmentally resilient Pakistan, and it cannot lose
allocation is improved; however, still, this tagging is institutional level, KFW’s transparency portal and climate nance data, which is currently only the people's trust. Finally, stopping climate change is a
Introduction has a fragmented climate nance architecture, where mostly being done at a federal level, and at the project database exist (KFW). In Bangladesh, after it understandable by technical professionals. joint human e ort, and better transparency is pivotal
responsibilities are spread across ministries, provinces,
Today, Pakistan stands at a critical point in its history. donors, public-sector entities, and private-sector provincial level, the climate budget tagging is minimal. successfully implemented the climate budget tagging 4) System for routine Climate Audits by AGP. for its success.
While Pakistan accounts for less than 1% of global instruments. This segmentation resulted in lower Furthermore, Sindh, despite being most a ected by system, the Citizens' Climate Budget Report is Currently, audits are not routine; rather, they are of a References
emissions, it is among the most a ected countries by transparency and scattered data. Most international oods and climate change, the Sindh Environment published every year, making the climate data easily special nature. This system, if implemented, will • Ali, Muhammad. “PTI’s Tree Tsunami Programme: Audit Exposes Rs5.2bn
climate change (Geo News). It also experienced oods projects by GCF and other bodies are somewhat sub-department reportedly spent only Rs336.56 accessible to the citizens. Each of these initiatives reduce losses and leakages due to Mismanagement.” Brecorder, 27 Nov.2024,www.brecorder.com/news/
mismanagement.
in 2024 and 2025 after the catastrophic oods of 2022. transparent, having a lot of data available. While the million against allocations of Rs3.419 billion, less than contributed to better governance and transparency. 40334616/ptis-tree-tsunami-programme-audit-exposes-rs52bn-
mismanagement.
The oods in 2022 had damages and losses of more private sector is growing its relevance through green 10 per cent (Imran). Pakistan needs an integrated model that combines 5) Mandatory Independent Monitoring and • Dawn. “Pakistan Requires $348bn Investment by 2030 to Address Climate
than USD 30 billion (World Bank). In light of these bonds, sukuks, and carbon market initiatives. The Disbursement refers to the tracking of funds and their budget tagging with public dashboards, Reporting of Nature-based projects. Change, Says World Bank.” Dawn, 31 Jan. 2025,
www.dawn.com/news/1888837.
climate disasters, the Pakistani Government decided to enforcement of climate policy frameworks is limited in timelines. Transparency appears to be weakest here. In citizen-friendly reporting, independent audit, and Independent Monitoring systems use satellite data, • Foreign, Commonwealth & Development O ce, et al. “International
regular on-site visits, and mechanisms to verify that
make climate nance one of its priorities. Some of the private sector, which compromises on 2023, at the “International Conference on Climate project-level outcome disclosure, to do e ective reporting is accurate. Climate Finance.” GOV.UK, 11 Feb. 2026,www.gov.uk/government/
collections/international-climate- nance.
these initiatives were the establishment of the Climate transparency. Resilient Pakistan” in Geneva, around USD 10.987 climate nance. • Geo News. “Pakistan Adds Less than 1% to Emissions, but among 10
Finance wing inside the Ministry of Climate Change billion were promised by the international community, Pakistan’s Current Direction 6) Make frameworks like NAP and others legally Countries Most Vulnerable to Climate Change: PM.” Geo News, 4 Jan.
2022,www.geo.tv/latest/391572-pakistan-adds-less-than-1-to-emissions-
and Environmental Coordination. Furthermore, a Why Transparency Matters in Climate and around only USD 2.8 billion were disbursed by binding and implementable at small levels by but-among-countries-most-vulnerable-to-climate-change-pm. Accessed
18 June 2026.
issuing relevant paperwork like SROs. This will
climate budget tagging system was also established. Finance 2024 (Government of Pakistan Ministry of Economic Today, Pakistan is facing the global climate crisis and is increase the implementation rate of such • Government of Pakistan Ministry of Economic A airs. “Pakistan Commends
Also, green nancing initiatives were undertaken, and A airs). After that, no further information regarding developing systems to counter these; however, the frameworks. Global Support at Fourth IPSG Meeting Post-2022 Floods.” Ead.gov.pk, 4
June 2024, www.ead.gov.pk/NewsDetail/NmE3YTg1YWUtMGU2ZC00N
a Climate Public Investment Management Assessment Climate nance has become a global priority. Nations this was made public, which shows the lack of operational ine ciencies in governance and TBiLTg1OWYtMjhmODkyN2Q0Mzdk. Accessed 18 June 2026.
(CPIMA) framework was also established. These local are taking charge and investing heavily, but most of transparency here. The information should have been transparency are preventing the bene ts of these 7) Enact a Climate Finance Transparency Act. • Imran. “Climate Budget at a Crossroads – Riphah Information Portal.”
Riphah.edu.pk, 9 June 2026,iportal.riphah.edu.pk/newspaper/climate-
and international initiatives were undertaken; the projects involved are large, which involves higher made public in machine-readable form. initiatives from reaching the people and having a Recommendations for Chartered budget-at-a-crossroads/. Accessed 18 June 2026.
however, proper governance and transparency risks. Higher risks coupled with technical di culty, Procurement and Implementation also have weak larger impact on reducing climate change. Management Accountants • KFW. “Transparency | KfW Development Bank.” Kfw-Entwicklungsbank.de,
2026,www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de/International- nancing/KfW-Develo
initiatives were ignored. These initiatives were procurement, and monitoring issues, multi-year transparency and require audit, monitoring, Furthermore, in the recent 2026 budget, the PSDP For Pakistan to become a global leader in climate pment-Bank/Transparency/. Accessed 19 June 2026.
incapable of identifying that, instead of more funding, donor-linked projects, and political visibility make procurement controls, and outcome veri cation. A allocation for the Ministry of Climate Change and nance governance and transparency, the Chartered • Malik, Arshad Aziz. “Rs3.49bn Irregularities Seen in Billion Tree Tsunami
International,
The
News
13
Project.”
2022,
Sept.
Pakistan needed a better system of allocation, these projects high-pro le and important. Hence, if prime example of this is the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Environmental Coordination has been reduced from Rs Management Accountants carry prime importance. www.thenews.com.pk/print/990866-rs3-49bn-irregularities-seen-in-billio
disbursement, procurement, implementation, and mismanagement is discovered in such projects, the Program. The audits of this program revealed that in 14.3 billion in FR 2021-22 to Rs 2.48 billion in FY They can improve transparency and governance in • n-tree-tsunami-project.Accessed 19 June 2026.
Naeem, Zainab. “Climate Resilience De cit.” thenews.pk, The News
audit. This inability resulted in weak monitoring, backlash is more intense, and the damage is greater. procurement, there were around Rs 109.365 million 2026-2027. Furthermore, the environment budget has climate nance by the following methods: Pakistan, 14 June 2026,www.thenews.pk/print/1420459-climate-
resilience-de cit. Accessed 18 June 2026.
under-deployment of funds, and loss of funds to Furthermore, reducing climate change is a national losses due to uncerti ed and ungraded seeds obtained been reduced from Rs5.952 billion to Rs5.032 billion. • CMAs can help classify expenditure into adaptation, • Recorder Report. “Climate Change: Pakistan Continues to Bear Certain
mismanagement. An example of this is the Ten Billion and human task and requires collaboration from the from unauthentic sources, nurseries were not vetted, However, the disaster allocations have reached Rs116.2 mitigation, loss and damage, and supporting Heaviest Consequences.” Business Recorder, 5 June
2026,www.brecorder.com/news/40424042/climate-change-pakistan-cont
billion, a 132 per cent increase over the previous year
Tree Tsunami Program; a later audit revealed that this people. Better transparency develops trust and more and more than 23 million plants were unrecorded and (Naeem). This highlights the government's focus on activities, making the classi cation process more inues-to-bear-certain-heaviest-consequences. Accessed 18 June 2026.
initiative lost around Rs 5.2 billion due to opportunities for the general public to take part in this not found (Malik). Furthermore, in the Implementation disaster recovery rather than disaster resilience. streamlined. • Sheikh, Ali Tauqeer. “Policies without Budget.” Dawn, 18 June 2026,
www.dawn.com/news/2008724. Accessed 18 June 2026.
mismanagement (Ali). Despite these setbacks, Pakistan phase, there were numerous cases of over-reporting • They can design dashboards showing pledged, • World Bank. “Pakistan: Flood Damages and Economic Losses over USD 30
has continued to invest in climate nance in light of the cause. and weak oversight, which compromised the Pakistan requires about USD 348 billion by 2030 to allocated, released, utilized, and unspent funds. This Billion and Reconstruction Needs over USD 16 Billion - New Assessment.”
World Bank, 28 Oct.2022,www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/
COP and the Paris Agreement, and many international Transparency Gaps transparency of the project. meet its climate-resilience and low-carbon will help with e ective decision making. 2022/10/28/pakistan- ood-damages-and-economic-losses-over-usd-30-b
and local private agencies have joined this cause. development goals (Dawn). This cost can be even illion-and-reconstruction-needs-over-usd-16-billion-new-assessme
Transparency is one of the major issues Pakistan faces. Evaluation refers to the independent audits and greater because of the weak transparency system of • They can link spending with output and outcomes
Current Climate Finance Landscape To completely grasp transparency at each level, climate performance assessments. Even though the Auditor Pakistan. Weak transparency may not change the to create more accurate reports.
Currently, we can divide climate nance in Pakistan nance projects can be divided into the following General of Pakistan conducted a special audit for nancing requirement, but it can reduce the impact of • They can help design controls to reduce overbilling,
into three categories. Climate nance at the parts: Planning, Allocation, Disbursement, TBTTP, a routine system for audits does not exist for every rupee spent by increasing the risk of leakage, duplicate claims, procurement irregularities, ghost
government level, the international level, and the Procurement, Implementation, Evaluation, and public both local and co- nanced projects by organizations underutilization, duplication, and poor project activities, and weak documentation. This will reduce

private sector level. At the government level, Pakistan access. like GCF. targeting. mismanagement.
18 ICMA’s Chartered Management Accountant, May-Jun 2026