Pakistan, consistently ranked among the top 10 nations most vulnerable to climate emergencies, has experienced an increasing frequency of floods, droughts and heatwaves in recent decades. As a result, its population remains in constant flux, facing the dual challenges of poverty and a deteriorating ecological system. Like other climate-affected nations, an increasingly volatile environment poses a significant barrier to sustained, wholesale development.

In response to these challenges, the U.K.–Pakistan Green Compact stands as a landmark agreement in global climate cooperation, marking a critical step toward safeguarding one of the world’s most at-risk nations.

The Deal

The U.K.–Pakistan Green Compact offers Pakistan a collaborative means to ameliorate some of the most pressing ecological challenges that it has faced in recent years. The agreement unlocks more than $35 million in targeted U.K. funding for projects that support the development of green energy and promote preventative solutions, such as the investment in expanding mangrove conservation. 

The compact is centered around five pillars:

• Clean energy transition
• Nature-based solutions
• Innovation and youth empowerment
• Climate finance and investment
• Adaptation and resilience

Stabilizing Pakistan’s Vulnerable Regions

The accessibility of finance to support sustainable climate projects is one of the major barriers to progress in Pakistan, a central concern that this compact hopes to address. The climate development that this will facilitate will, in turn, stabilize the regions in Pakistan most directly impacted by the floods, droughts and heatwaves that claimed more than 1,000 lives in 2025 alone. In particular, greater efforts in mangrove conservation made possible by this deal will help protect coastal communities from ongoing flooding risks. 

These floods weaken local economies, destroy homes and infrastructure and threaten the lives of both people and their livestock. More than 18 million Pakistanis were affected by the 2025 monsoon floods. The disaster led to widespread displacement and the destruction of vital public assets.

Essential cropland exceeding 2.23 million acres was either submerged or destroyed. This loss erased critical resources that support regional food security and an economy partly dependent on agriculture. The macroeconomic effects of the disaster are severe. It is projected to reduce the nation’s GDP for 2025–26 by up to 2%, posing a significant barrier to development.

The targeted solutions that the U.K.–Pakistan Green Compact provides hope to the roughly 60 million people living in poverty in Pakistan. The highest concentration of national poverty is found in the most rurally situated districts. As a result, it is the communities most reliant on agriculture that are made the most vulnerable by the impacts of changing climatic conditions. 

Final Thoughts

Collaborative action between international powers, such as the U.K.–Pakistan Green Compact, is essential for building a global framework for climate cooperation. This approach enables the sharing of data, resources, systems and expertise to address the climate crisis and its direct link to high poverty rates.

The future of climate action and poverty reduction is closely interconnected. It depends largely on sustained, large-scale international collaboration. The Green Compact deal stands as a strong example of the kind of coordinated economic action needed to support a more environmentally stable and economically resilient future.

– Evan Meikle

Evan is based in Kingston Upon Hull, UK and focuses on Global Health and Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr