Karachi, Pakistan, 27 July 2022. As of today, the Clean Energy Financing Pakistan Task Force (CEFP-TF) under the Pakistan Private Sector Energy Project has been launched. The Task Force will operate as a community of practice, fundamentally a learning and knowledge platform that brings together professionals from banks, investment and financial institutions (FIs) in general, that are working on clean energy financing solutions and instruments in Pakistan and aim to get better at what they do.

In October 2021, Pakistan committed to a 60% share in renewable energy generation capacity by 2030. Investment in clean energy deployment is key to realizing this pledge and moving towards a decarbonized economy in the future. Leveraging climate finance and investment—particularly from the private sector are fundamental to accomplishing these objectives. The CEFP-TF will build momentum through identifying challenges and opportunities facing FIs in the Pakistan clean energy financing markets and exploit them through a hands-on approach that will promote and accelerate change, to better equip institutions to take advantage of such opportunities and serve clean energy projects and businesses better through capacity building, risk mitigation and know-how transfer. This is an essential next step through bringing together stakeholders around a shared ambition and driving tangible actions to accelerate the uptake of clean energy solutions in Pakistan. It will foster solving problems quicker, drive strategy and share better practices by bringing partners closer together in a common collaborative platform. The platform will be a pond of untapped knowledge where members dive in for a piece of data, quick advice, contacts and then right back out to business.

Over 40 participants from banks, development financial institutions, microfinance institutions and equity investors expressed their support and commitment to creating the Task Force through their membership. CEFP-TF comes as a response to the demands of a booming sector in the Pakistani economy and key to achieving the climate targets under the Paris Agreement.

“We should be looking towards subsidized funding for the clean energy shift, for example, the subsidized scheme provided by State Bank of Pakistan, stress on the outcomes and success of the scheme, which hopefully will be continued”, Tayyaba Rasheed, Head Investment Banking Group, Faysal Bank Limited.

“Renewable energy and clean financing are elements that have come to stay in Pakistan for the long run and it is becoming the cornerstone for development. Collaborative platforms for financial experts working on emerging markets such as clean energy are critical to the growth of the sector”, Shezad Abdullah, Senior Vice President, Head of Structured Finance and Advisory, Askari Bank.

Finally, the Task Force has been summoned for the following session to be held in August 2022 to initiate a work of reflection and practical learning to promote strategies and synergies for Pakistan.

For further information consult our Framework document.

About the Pakistan Private Sector Energy Project

The Pakistan Private Sector Energy Project (PPSE), launched in February 2021, is a USAID-funded project implemented with the Private Financing Advisory Network (PFAN), hosted jointly by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP).

Interested to join in?

Contact Mr. Ammar Qureshi, PPSE Investment Expert, a.qureshi@unido.org, phone: +923335175903.