At COP31, Shehbaz Sharif Hails Pakistan’s 22-Gigawatt Solar Surge as a ‘Quiet Revolution’
ANTALYA: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told world leaders at COP31 on Wednesday that Pakistan has added nearly 22 gigawatts of rooftop solar capacity in just two years — a change he described as a quiet revolution driven not by government, but by ordinary citizens looking for cheaper power and a cleaner, more predictable future.
Addressing a high-level dialogue on clean energy transition, titled “35 by 35: Powering the Future” and hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister said Pakistan fully backs the 35-by-35 Global Electrification Pledge, under which countries aim to raise electricity’s share of total final energy consumption to around 35 per cent by 2035.
Chashma-5 to add 1,200 megawatts of clean energy
The prime minister also pointed to the recent inauguration of a key section of Chashma-5, Pakistan’s seventh nuclear power plant, saying the project will add 1,200 megawatts of clean energy to the national grid. He thanked Erdogan, whose country holds the COP31 presidency, for convening what he called an important dialogue. He is accompanied in Antalya by Senator Sherry Rehman, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and his adviser Tariq Fatemi.
Earlier in the day, the prime minister was received by Erdogan and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and joined other world leaders for a group photograph. On the sidelines he met Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Tarique Rehman, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa, among others. In his conversation with his Palestinian counterpart, he expressed Pakistan’s full solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Climate finance demand to continue
The prime minister is also due to deliver Pakistan’s national statement at the Leaders’ Summit, where he will press for climate finance for developing countries to be made predictable, adequate and accessible. Pakistan contributes less than one per cent of global emissions, yet ranks among the countries most exposed to climate change.
At the summit, Guterres warned that the climate crisis was outrunning the world. “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.” Erdogan, meanwhile, told leaders that what had taken place in Gaza was “not only a genocide, but it is also an ecocide”. Delegates from nearly 200 countries are gathered in Antalya, with leaders’ speeches running through Wednesday and Thursday.
