Pakistan's Minister for Climate Change, Musadik Malik, called for the country to embrace modern technology and research-led innovation to deal with the effects of a warming climate, according to RADIO PAKISTAN. He made the remarks at a ceremony in Islamabad marking the Green Skills Development Initiative. The minister told the gathering that Pakistan bears a heavy share of climate-related damage.
Why it matters
Malik's argument rests on a set of figures he gave at the event. Over the last decade, he said, roughly 6,000 people in Pakistan have died because of climate change, about 20,000 were injured, and 40 million were displaced. RADIO PAKISTAN reported those numbers as the minister presented them; they were not broken down by event or region in the account.
For Malik, those losses are the reason the response has to change. He said the country cannot keep relying on standard training sessions and scattered programmes. Instead, he wants an approach built around innovation, one that connects scientific work, hands-on skills, business creation and funding.
From workshops to a working ecosystem
The minister set out what that shift would involve in practical terms. He called for green skills to be defined clearly, for certifications that are recognised, for partnerships with universities abroad, and for organised research placements for Pakistani graduates. He also pushed for money to go directly to young researchers, inventors and entrepreneurs.
Underlying this is a structural point: Malik said Pakistan needs a joined-up system in which universities, research bodies, industry and investors cooperate. The aim, as he described it, is to convert scientific knowledge into usable technologies and into green businesses that can stand on their own.
He framed the Green Skills Development Initiative as a vehicle for promoting skills that are friendly to the environment. According to RADIO PAKISTAN, he said the programme would also help generate employment and curb the damaging effects of climate change.
Malik's list of sectors needing change was broad. He named construction, business, energy, trade and investment as fields where innovation is required now.
The remarks come as Pakistan prepares for international climate diplomacy around COP31, with other voices in the country also pressing for finance and resilience to be treated as priorities. The Islamabad event placed skills and technology at the centre of that domestic conversation.
What to watch is whether the initiative moves from announcements to recognised certifications, university tie-ups and funded research positions — the concrete steps Malik described.
