Shehbaz Sharif at COP31: Pakistan Demands Grant-Based Climate Finance and Warns Against ‘Weaponising Water’

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took the stage at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkiye, on Thursday, 12 November 2026, with a clear message for the world’s richest countries: stop offering climate help as loans that poor nations must repay, and start giving it as grants.

Speaking at the COP31 Leaders’ Summit, the prime minister said Pakistan contributes less than 1 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, yet it is among the countries hit hardest by climate change. He called for “grant-based finance” for vulnerable countries, a big increase in funds for adapting to climate disasters, and an end to using shared rivers as a political weapon.

“National effort cannot replace a fair and just global response,” he told the leaders gathered in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, where delegates from nearly 200 countries are meeting for the two-week COP31 talks, which run until 20 November.

What Pakistan asked for

At the centre of the prime minister’s speech was one simple demand: when climate disasters strike, the money that follows should not push struggling countries deeper into debt.

“When climate disasters strike, vulnerable countries need timely help and finance that does not deepen their debt,” he said.

He called for “grant-based finance, including public-private partnerships, alongside a significant increase in resilience and adaptation funds, which amount to survival funds, especially for struggling economies.”

In plain words, Pakistan wants three things:

• Grants, not loans. Money for climate recovery should be given, not lent. Loans add to a country’s debt, and the repayments can eat up the very money needed to rebuild.
• More money for adaptation. Adaptation means preparing for floods, heatwaves and droughts before they happen — building stronger homes, better drains, early warning systems and flood defences. Pakistan says the funds for this work are far too small.
• Help that arrives on time. After a disaster, help that comes months late is of little use. Pakistan wants finance that reaches vulnerable countries quickly, when they need it most.

“Climate change knows no borders and no nation can face it alone. Solidarity must mean real action,” the prime minister said.

Why grants matter more than loans

The difference between a grant and a loan may sound technical, but for a country like Pakistan it is the difference between recovering and sinking deeper into trouble.

A loan has to be paid back, with interest. When a flood destroys homes, crops and roads, a government must borrow to rebuild. If the rebuilding money is itself a loan, the country ends up paying for the same disaster twice — once in the damage, and again in the debt repayments.

Pakistan knows this problem well. The country has borrowed heavily in recent years, and a large share of government spending already goes on paying back old loans. Every rupee spent on interest is a rupee that cannot be spent on schools, hospitals or flood defences.

This is why the prime minister described resilience and adaptation funds as “survival funds”. For countries facing repeated disasters, this money is not a luxury or a favour. It is what keeps people alive and economies standing.

Pakistan is not alone in this demand. Many developing countries have made the same argument at climate talks for years: the countries that caused most of the pollution should pay for the damage, and they should pay in grants, not loans. But so far, most climate finance has come as loans, and the amounts promised have often fallen short of what was actually delivered.

The warning on water: “No nation should be allowed to put lives downstream at risk”

One of the sharpest parts of the prime minister’s speech was his warning against the “weaponisation of water” — using shared rivers as a tool of pressure between countries.

“No nation should be allowed to put the lives and livelihoods of people downstream at risk. Water-sharing agreements must be honoured in letter and spirit,” he said.

The warning points to the Indus Waters Treaty, the 1960 agreement under which India and Pakistan share the waters of the Indus river system. India suspended the treaty and stopped sharing water data with Pakistan last year, after an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people.

For Pakistan, this is not a small matter. The Indus and its tributaries water the farms of Punjab and Sindh, feed the country’s biggest cities and drive its hydroelectric dams. If water flows are cut or the data about them stops, farmers cannot plan their crops, and the risk of floods and shortages grows.

By raising the issue at COP31, Pakistan linked the water question to the climate question. As glaciers melt and monsoon rains become harder to predict, the rivers that both countries depend on are changing. The prime minister’s argument was that shared rivers need shared rules — and that those rules must be respected even when relations between countries are tense.

Two floods, one message

To explain why Pakistan is asking for help, the prime minister told the summit two stories from his own country.

The first was the great flood of 2022. One-third of Pakistan was under water. Around 33 million people were affected. More than 1,700 people lost their lives, and economic losses passed $30 billion. Standing crops were washed away, millions of acres of land were flooded, and whole villages disappeared under water.

He reminded the leaders that he had warned the United Nations General Assembly in 2022 that what was happening in Pakistan would not stay in Pakistan. “Unfortunately, that warning has become a stark reality,” he said. “The future we feared has become the present we are living.”

The second story was smaller, and more personal. In August 2025, flash floods swept through Buner district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The prime minister told the summit about a young man there who was just two days away from his wedding when the floods hit his village.

“A home preparing for celebrations became a house of mourning,” he said.

“Their grief was personal, yet the warning signs were global,” he added. “People who have contributed the least to climate change bear its heaviest consequences.”

The two stories made the same point. Climate change is not an abstract problem for Pakistan. It is the flood that takes a family’s home, the wedding that never happens, and the harvest that never comes.

What Pakistan says it is doing itself

The prime minister was careful to show that Pakistan is not only asking for help — it is also taking action at home.

He said clean energy sources now account for nearly 55 percent of Pakistan’s energy needs, and the country has set a target of cutting its projected emissions by about 50 percent by 2035. Pakistan is also pushing electric vehicles and cleaner transport.

On Tuesday, at a COP31 session on clean energy, he highlighted Pakistan’s solar power boom. In just two years, Pakistan has added nearly 22 gigawatts of rooftop solar capacity — what he called “a quiet revolution by ordinary citizens seeking affordable power and a cleaner, more predictable future.” Pakistan has also backed the global “35-by-35” pledge, under which countries aim to raise electricity’s share of total energy use to around 35 percent by 2035.

He also pointed to the Chashma-5 nuclear power plant, saying he had watched the placement of its dome on his way to Antalya. Once finished, the plant will add 1,200 megawatts of clean, emission-free electricity.

Pakistan’s solar boom and its clean energy plans were the subject of an earlier address at COP31, where the prime minister set out what the country needs to keep the transition going. Read more: Shehbaz Sharif at COP31: Pakistan’s Solar Boom Needs $138 Billion — and a Fair Share of Climate Finance

The message was clear: Pakistan is doing its part, even though it caused almost none of the problem. But a country that emits less than 1 percent of global carbon cannot fix the climate crisis alone — and it should not have to pay for it alone either.

A summit under pressure

The COP31 talks opened in Turkiye this week under a heavy cloud. Global greenhouse gas emissions show little sign of falling, and the world has just come through a year of searing heatwaves and wildfires in Europe and deadly floods in Nepal.

On Wednesday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told world leaders that the slow international response to climate change had put the world on “a path to destruction”.

“The brutal truth is that the climate crisis is outrunning us. This is the path to mutually assured destruction,” he said. “But science is not telling us to surrender. It is telling us to fight harder.”

Guterres also took aim at the oil and gas industry, saying fossil fuels “must go the way of the dinosaurs”. He accused the industry of trying to distort the science and delay action, and said governments could not keep expanding fossil fuel production while claiming to support the fight against climate change.

The United States, the world’s largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, has skipped the talks for a second year in a row, after President Donald Trump withdrew the US from climate cooperation on returning to office in 2025.

With the US absent, wars and an oil price shock competing for attention, and countries still struggling to carry out the 2023 promise to move away from fossil fuels, few major breakthroughs are expected from COP31. Negotiators are seeking agreement on a plan to increase the share of electricity in global energy use and to revive stalled efforts to move away from fossil fuels.

The leaders’ summit, where more than 100 world leaders gathered in Antalya, was the set-piece moment of the first week. Read more: COP31 Leaders’ Summit: 100+ World Leaders Back Electrification, Green Industry and Zero Waste in Antalya

Meetings on the sidelines

Away from the main stage, the prime minister held a series of meetings on the sidelines of the summit.

He met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the two leaders reaffirmed the deep-rooted, historic and brotherly ties between Pakistan and Turkiye. They discussed trade and investment, defence cooperation, energy and connectivity, and agreed to speed up work on joint projects. The prime minister thanked President Erdogan for Turkiye’s support for Pakistan during the devastating floods of 2010 and 2022, and praised his hosting of a luncheon meeting despite a busy summit schedule.

“Pakistan and Turkiye are bound by an enduring brotherhood. We will stand together, always,” he said after the meeting.

He also met General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the president of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, and reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for Sudan’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.

In a meeting with Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, the two leaders discussed trade, education, technology and climate resilience. The prime minister said Pakistan was interested in Finnish expertise in flood forecasting, water management, climate-resilient farming, glacier monitoring and early warning systems — all areas where Finland has strong experience.

He also met Iraq’s President Nizar Mohammed Saeed Amidi, congratulated him on Iraq’s parliamentary elections and the formation of a new government, and discussed trade, manpower, reconstruction, agriculture and defence.

What happens next

The leaders’ summit ends, but the hard work of COP31 continues until 20 November. Negotiators from nearly 200 countries will spend the second week trying to agree on the details: how much money will be provided, in what form, and how the world will speed up the move away from fossil fuels.

For Pakistan, the test of the summit will not be the speeches. It will be whether the promises made in Antalya turn into money that actually arrives — as grants, not loans — and whether the water-sharing agreements that protect millions of people downstream are respected.

The prime minister closed his address with a challenge to the leaders in the room.

“Let our success be measured not by promises we make here but by the families we protect, the resources we deliver, and the meaningful action we sustain,” he said.

The world leaders had gathered, he said, to “shoulder a shared responsibility to protect life on this earth”. In the second week of COP31, the world will see whether they meant it.

Frequently asked questions

What is COP31?

COP31 is the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference. It is the annual meeting where nearly 200 countries negotiate action on climate change. This year’s conference is being held in Antalya, Turkiye, and runs until 20 November 2026.

What did Pakistan ask for at COP31?

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for grant-based climate finance for vulnerable countries, a big increase in resilience and adaptation funds, and respect for water-sharing agreements. He said climate finance should not deepen the debt of struggling economies.

Why does Pakistan say it deserves climate finance?

Pakistan produces less than 1 percent of global carbon emissions, but it is among the countries most exposed to climate disasters. The 2022 floods affected around 33 million people, killed more than 1,700 people and caused losses of more than $30 billion.

What is the Indus Waters Treaty?

The Indus Waters Treaty is a 1960 agreement between India and Pakistan that shares the waters of the Indus river system. India suspended the treaty and stopped sharing water data with Pakistan last year. Pakistan says water-sharing agreements must be honoured in letter and spirit.

What is Pakistan doing on clean energy?

Pakistan says clean energy now makes up nearly 55 percent of its energy mix. It has added nearly 22 gigawatts of rooftop solar capacity in two years, and aims to cut its projected emissions by about 50 percent by 2035. The Chashma-5 nuclear plant will add 1,200 megawatts of clean electricity.

Why is the United States not at COP31?

The United States has skipped the talks for a second year in a row after President Donald Trump withdrew the country from climate cooperation on returning to office in 2025.

Conclusion

Pakistan came to COP31 with a simple case: it did almost nothing to cause climate change, yet it is paying one of the highest prices for it. The floods of 2022 and the flash floods of Buner in 2025 are the proof.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s message to the world’s richest countries was equally simple. Help must come as grants, not loans. It must arrive on time. And the rivers that millions of people depend on must not be turned into weapons.

The summit will be judged not by the words spoken in Antalya, but by what happens next — whether the money flows, whether the defences are built, and whether the families in the path of the next flood are protected. For Pakistan, that is what COP31 is really about.

Sources

• Dawn — At COP31, PM Shehbaz calls for grant-based finance, resilience funding for climate-vulnerable countries
• Geo News — At COP31 summit in Turkiye, PM Shehbaz calls for ‘real action’ on climate change
• The Express Tribune — PM Shehbaz urges grant-based climate finance, warns against ‘weaponising water’
• ANews — Antalya summit: Pakistan urges grant-based climate finance, warns against weaponizing water
• Daily Pakistan — Pakistan emits less than 1% of Global Carbon, Yet 33 Million hit by Devastating Floods: PM Shehbaz tells COP31

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.