Home Latest News France Hails Pakistan’s Passage of Climate Change Act

France Hails Pakistan’s Passage of Climate Change Act

by Newsweek Pakistan

Lionel Bonaventure—AFP

Parliament has approved legislation aimed at helping the country adapt to effects of global warming.

France on Friday welcomed Pakistan’s passage of a climate change bill aimed at fast-tracking measures needed to implement proposed actions on the ground.

The new Climate Change Act 2016 establishes a policymaking Climate Change Council and Climate Change Authority to ensure projects that help Pakistan prepare for climate change are properly implemented and work toward reducing carbon emissions. The National Assembly passed the bill in December, after which it was placed for approval before the Senate, which passed it earlier this month. The legislation will now be placed before President Mamnoon Hussain, who is required to approve it under the Constitution.

In a statement, France hailed Pakistan becoming the fifth country in the world to adopt legislation specifically targeting climate change. “The French Embassy extends its congratulations to the Government of Pakistan for this much needed legislation, which will provide a framework for tackling the impacts of climate change and for strengthening Pakistan’s climate resilience and adaptation,” it said, adding that climate change minister Zahid Hamid had been instrumental in ensuring the success and implementation of the accords agreed at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.

“The Embassy of France reassures its complete support in this domain, and will stay committed, with new projects on green energy in Pakistan being developed by the French Agency for Development in 2017,” it added.

Federal Minister for Climate Change Hamid told Reuters the legislation was “historic.” It aims to help provinces, which will implement all projects, adapt to the changing global climate, he added.

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