Climate change a multi-layered crisis, says Senator Sherry Rehman

Climate change a multi-layered crisis, says Senator Sherry Rehman

ISLAMABAD: Characterising the global environmental challenge as a multi-layered crisis, Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday called for a fundamental overhaul of climate priorities to address the growing intersection of artificial intelligence, energy security, and geopolitical instability. Speaking at a Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) event on ‘Strengthening Climate Action’, she stressed that modern ecological realities demand integrated strategies rather than isolated interventions. She said the world was entering an age of unprecedented disruption, requiring countries to move beyond fragmented responses and rethink how they approach development, technology and resource security. “Climate change is no longer the only part of the polycrisis. It is intersecting with everything else. We are entering an age of disruption, and we need to rethink our priorities rather than surrender to a narrative of doom and gloom,” she said. Says modern ecological realities demand integrated strategies Referring to the UNEP Emissions Gap Report, Senator Rehman said its findings should serve as a wake-up call. Under current policies, the world is heading towards approximately 2.8°C of warming by 2100, while full implementation of existing national climate pledges would still result in around 2.6°C of warming. She said that Pakistan was already experiencing the consequences of this widening ambition gap, remaining trapped in a recurring cycle of disasters and recovery, with progressively less time to rebuild. Recalling the 2022 floods, when one-third of Pakistan was submerged, she said the country’s cumulative climate-related losses over the past three decades were estimated at $59 billion, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. Pakistan also loses more than $2bn annually to extreme weather events, according to the Asian Development Bank, while the 2025 floods caused approximately $1bn in agricultural crop losses, according to the World Bank. “Climate justice cannot mean asking vulnerable countries to find their own solutions while the global economic system continues to reward high emissions, fossil-fuel subsidies were estimated by the IMF at approximately $7 trillion. “We are paying for a crisis we contributed very little to creating. As global wealth grows, so does the number of people who are poor, hungry, land-deprived and water-deprived. What happens in Pakistan does not remain in Pakistan. We do not live in a moral vacuum,” she said. Describing the present period as an axial age of transformation, Senator Rehman said AI was fundamentally changing how humanity functions, consumes resources and exercises power. She cautioned that AI was not simply a digital tool but depended on an enormous physical infrastructure with significant environmental implications. Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2026