Pakistan’s Biennial Transparency Report: Tracking Emissions, Finance, And Climate Action
Pakistan’s first BTR tracks emissions, climate finance needs, and adaptation progress, highlighting gaps and paths for stronger transparency
Since the adoption of the much-cherished Paris Agreement in 2015, transparency has stood as one of its vital pillars, ensuring countries not only make promises and claims on climate action but also show proof of progress. Transparency was also one of the important themes at this year’s COP in Belém, Brazil.
At the core of this transparency lies the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). Established under Article 13 of the Paris Agreement, the ETF is the mechanism for countries to report on their climate actions and the support provided/received. The primary instrument that enables the ETF is the Biennial Transparency Report (BTR), through which countries communicate their greenhouse-gas emissions, progress or lack thereof toward their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), efforts on adaptation, and climate finance, in a harmonised format. In doing so, BTRs form part of a broader cycle under the Paris Agreement.
The national reporting they contain feeds into the Global Stocktake, undertaken every five years to assess progress toward the Paris Agreement’s temperature goals and identify what more is needed to stay on track. The Stocktake then informs the next round of NDCs and adaptation plans, helping ensure that both mitigation and adaptation ambition evolve as per the needs. Progress on these updated commitments is again captured through subsequent BTRs. In short, the ecosystem is designed to assess collective progress toward limiting warming through increasing ambition over time, with the BTR serving as the central reporting tool.
The release of the first UNFCCC synthesis report on BTRs came ahead of COP30, offering the most comprehensive global snapshot yet of how countries turned their climate pledges into measurable progress and where critical gaps persist. The 100+ submissions also included one from Pakistan. The synthesis report offers insights not only for improving the substance of climate action but also the reporting of it. Thus, the discussion that follows reviews the main features of Pakistan’s BTR and highlights aspects that could enhance future reporting.
At the global level, as per the synthesis report, initial steps towards NDC implementation are visible, but acceleration of efforts is needed across many parties to achieve the committed national GHG emission reduction targets. Energy is found to derive most global emissions and remains the chief focus of climate mitigation. In addition, the synthesis report further notes the provision of USD 63.17 billion in financial support, while developing countries consistently noted the need for improved access to climate finance. Many developing nations, including Pakistan, applied ETF flexibility provisions due to limited domestic technical capacities. This aspect led to differential methods of reporting on emissions tracking.
While Pakistan’s BTR reflects an attempt toward greater transparency, it also indicates the gaps that remain in strengthening reporting that truly depicts the domestic context
For Pakistan, the BTR is more than a procedural exercise; it is an introspective tool. It becomes an opportunity to track emissions, examine national progress in achieving the NDC, highlight adaptation criticality, build an evidence base for attracting climate finance, as well as identify structural gaps present within. It’s the first BTR records that Pakistan’s 2021 greenhouse-gas emissions were approximately 521.5 MtCO₂e, with agriculture, forestry and land use (AFOLU) contributing 46.8% and energy 40.9%, differing from energy-dominant global averages.
The BTR, while demonstrating national progress in reporting, is reflective of insufficient domestic capacities that limit robust reporting. In inventorying its GHG, Pakistan utilises the available flexibility provision by applying the Tier 1 methodology under the IPCC Guidelines. This methodology, based on default emission factors, is the most basic approach and carries a high degree of uncertainty. While a practical choice for countries with limited data systems and reporting capacities, Tier 1’s reliance on global averages can distort national emissions, overstating some sectors and understating others.
Moving forward, Pakistan should aim to transition toward Tier 2 or Tier 3 approaches that are underpinned by improved sectoral data collection and established country-specific emission factors, thereby better capturing domestic realities and generating information based on national context and mitigation undertaken. Pakistan already plans to improve GHG data collection at the provincial level. Capitalising on this, data and accounting methods can be aligned nationwide to ensure consistency and coherence. Developing nationally tailored methodologies will yield a truer emissions picture, highlight priority areas for mitigation, and make future reporting more robust and policy relevant.
In addition to GHG inventories, financial needs, which is another major focus of Pakistan’s BTR, estimate a requirement of around USD 200 billion to meet its NDC targets and up to USD 348 billion for climate-resilient development between 2023 and 2030. These figures, quoted from World Bank indicative estimates, include roughly USD 152 billion for adaptation and USD 196 billion for deep decarbonisation.
At present, Pakistan lacks a formal climate finance registry or a unified system to track funds needed or received. In its absence, estimates rely heavily on international sources such as the World Bank, which, while informative, are not grounded in domestic data. Reporting on assistance received is also uneven, often confined to major multilateral flows like those from the Green Climate Fund, with limited detail on bilateral support, thematic allocations, or financial instruments used.
As a result, a complete, government-owned picture of adaptation and mitigation finance remains absent. To address this, Pakistan must develop government-verified, home-grown datasets on both finance needs and support received to ensure accurate reporting under the ETF. This is essential, as developing countries’ BTRs provide a first-hand account of recipient perspectives on climate finance, crucial in monitoring global finance goals and informing future ones.
Estimating requirements alone, however, is only the initial step. To effectively attract climate finance, Pakistan must propose bankable projects that reflect its adaptation and mitigation goals through clear, actionable investments. Each proposal should specify the utilisation of requested funds while demonstrating an implementation strategy, measurable outcomes, and strong accountability. Such planning would be critical in raising donors’ confidence for financing climate action in Pakistan.
In conclusion, while Pakistan’s BTR reflects an attempt toward greater transparency, it also indicates the gaps that remain in strengthening reporting that truly depicts the domestic context. By advancing its inventory reporting methodologies and systemising climate-finance tracking, Pakistan can enhance the quality and credibility of its future reports while contributing valuable insights to global transparency dialogues.
