LAHORE: As governments, companies and international organizations join forces to prioritize sustainable action, threats such as biodiversity loss cannot be overlooked. The more that we harm and degrade Pakistan’s environment, the more we undermine nature’s ability to support people and communities, a factor which strongly improves both quality of life and business prosperity.
The alarming pace of biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, along with climate change, has become an increasingly urgent issue that undermines not just local ecosystems and individual species, but ultimately heralds potentially major food security issues and other challenges for societies, economies and companies around the globe. Addressing it requires concerted action — and corporates have a responsibility to play a part.
This issue should matter to every Pakistani. According to global environmental watchdog German Watch we have persistently been rated among the top 10 countries facing adverse impacts of climate change in terms of recurring natural calamities and increased vulnerability due to climate change. And it’s most likely going to get worse before it gets better.
Our government is taking action. The reason why we’re the host country for World Environment Day this year is because of our government’s pledge to fight climate change. Our Prime Minister has called the issue our “defining global challenge”. And as a country we’ve begun planting billions of trees that will restore and enhance over one million hectares of forest nationwide. These initiatives will create jobs, sequester carbon and promote an ecosystem-based adaptation.
The fight against nature loss should also be a business priority: nature is essential to global economic prosperity and individual business success. We cannot have a sustainable future for people and economies if we do not address nature, climate and people in an integrated way. Indeed, climate change is among the main drivers of biodiversity loss, and yet biodiversity is part of the climate solutions.
Many parts of society have been too slow to understand the impacts of our activities on nature. However, awareness is rising fast, and the momentum is building to move towards reversing the curve of biodiversity loss and protecting and preserving the environment. Companies too need to up their game and play a vital role in protecting and promoting our country’s nature.
To engage stakeholders in a transformative change, clear and measurable national targets must be set and adhered to if we are going to limit climate change to within 1.5 degrees Celsius. By working together business, finance and government will be able to drive systemic and transformative change, unlocking new opportunities and allowing everyone to live sustainably on a healthy planet.
The road ahead to make human societies respect the planetary boundaries demands transformative change, innovative solutions and significant economic paradigm shift. Public authorities, businesses and civil society must work as one to deliver on commitments for nature.
More than two thirds of our impact on biodiversity is due to greenhouse gas emissions. Which is why, through the lens of biodiversity, our climate change strategy has new relevance. The effect of climate change on biodiversity further inspires us to pursue our ambitious net zero emissions goals, both across our own operations and throughout our supply chain.
Today, our environmental and sustainability strategy allows us to mitigate our impact on biodiversity, and our focus on electrification will help us deliver 800 million tons of saved and avoided CO2 emissions for our customers over the coming five years; nevertheless, I know that we can do better and there is still potential to do much more.
For instance, improvements can be made through sustainable purchasing; increased supply chain traceability would allow us to choose exactly what we buy, from whom and from where. Biodiversity is an inherently local issue and the impact of raw material extraction can vary greatly, even within the same country.
Businesses and corporations have a responsibility to play a major role with other stakeholders from civil society to policy makers. We began our journey to become more sustainable decades ago, but it’s never too late to change. We invite companies to start right now. Even before international agreements, the private sector can start to quantify biodiversity impacts, understanding interdependencies between nature and business, identify risks and define action plans.
The journey towards true sustainability is long and still partly unmapped, yet the world needs urgent action. It is only by joining forces today that we can reach sufficient momentum and change societies soon enough. As we mark World Environment Day, as the business community let’s raise the bar on our corporate biodiversity goals and aim to preserve and restore our ecosystem. Countless generations of Pakistanis will either thank us for our actions or hold us accountable if we fail. For their sake, I hope we achieve the former and restore our environment to its wondrous beauty.
