- Govt to update the project selection criteria for the PSDP.
- Pakistan will report the selection process.
- Pakistan will also implement the assessment of adaptation.
Islamabad: Pakistan has accepted requests from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to update the selection of projects and increase climate change weighting criteria by next year, with carbon fees that would be announced in the next budget, The news reported.
Pakistan has accepted IMF’s request that all new infrastructure projects costing more than 7.5 billion rupees should have their documents from the Planning Commission (PC-1) published on the PC website. The government will improve project assessments and climate screening assessments to prioritize the infrastructure that has the most impact, the main official sources said.
The official said that Pakistan and the world lender have decided to extend the federal government’s budget marking system to include grant and grant expenses. They will also use the same process to mark the expenses of the provincial government, added the manager.
He also undertook the IMF to work for the marking and monitoring of expenses to climate notation and the harmonization of the budget beacon with other green taxonomies. The government will update the project selection criteria for the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) to prioritize climate friendly projects.
Climate change considerations will represent at least 30% of the criteria for selecting infrastructure projects. A transparent rating system will be developed with explicit protocols to assess projects.
The government will publish the distribution of new projects scores by August 2026.
Pakistan will also implement the assessment of adaptation and mitigation until the end of August 2027. All new major infrastructure projects will undertake climate vulnerability, adaptation and mitigation assessments as a critical requirement for inclusion in the PSDP.