--- title: Pakistan Flooding's Financial Cost Raises Tough Questions description: The country's climate minister said the extreme flooding is "a climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions." canonical: https://time.com/6210211/pakistan-floods-cost/ author: Ciara Nugent article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-09-01T15:03:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T14:41:44.203Z article:section: Climate og:title: Pakistan Flooding Raises Tough Questions About Who Pays For Climate Impacts og:description: Pakistan accounts for 0.7% of global emissions but is consistently ranked among the top 10 most vulnerable countries og:url: https://time.com/6210211/pakistan-floods-cost/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04747fbbd1b0b55f/698a350f22fb8582f7e2dd12/pakistan-flooding-climate-finance-adaptation.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: PAKISTAN-WEATHER-FLOODS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Pakistan Flooding Raises Tough Questions About Who Pays For Climate Impacts twitter:description: Pakistan accounts for 0.7% of global emissions but is consistently ranked among the top 10 most vulnerable countries twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04747fbbd1b0b55f/698a350f22fb8582f7e2dd12/pakistan-flooding-climate-finance-adaptation.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Pakistan Flooding Raises Tough Questions About Who Should Pay For Catastrophic Climate Impacts > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. Senior correspondent Justin Worland goes beyond traditional climate coverage to connect the energy transition to the bigger decisions reshaping companies, markets and society. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Sep 1, 2022 3:03 PM UTC  This aerial view of flooding is pictured in Mingora, a town in the Pakistan's northern Swat Valley following heavy monsoon rainfall on Aug. 27, 2022. This aerial view of flooding is pictured in Mingora, a town in the Pakistan's northern Swat Valley following heavy monsoon rainfall on Aug. 27, 2022. Abdul Majeed—AFP/Getty Images  by [Ciara Nugent](https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/)  ## Ciara Nugent Sep 1, 2022 3:03 PM UTC A decade ago, Pakistan’s worst floods on record destroyed a bridge over the Swat river in Madyan, a hilly tourist town in the North. When they went to rebuild, authorities decided to make their town more resilient. So they built the new bridge [16 ft. higher](https://click.newsletters.time.com/?qs=24b25d84f06a337f9c5b236ce9f1fc8d98d46b1f1e619d9f01cca4e56d9bb3a05ee884d7ddc275bce0c6e7b659dcee162b5d67866055633f) than before. But on Aug. 26, seven weeks into[ an unprecedented monsoon season in Pakistan](https://time.com/6209967/pakistan-floods-what-to-know/), the new bridge was almost underwater. Videos on social media showed river water lapping at its surface. Pakistan’s downpours have flooded a third of the country, according to officials, affecting 33 million people, and killing at least 1,100\. Last week, the country’s climate minister [told Reuters](https://click.newsletters.time.com/?qs=24b25d84f06a337f98d3a4a5c0aa2aa8fd0dd08c0ec09819cb168d372c53f5980ebd03ba03a318b168264ad147cdb953a15fc44ceebeab4a) her people were facing “a climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions.” In Madyan, the water receded before the bridge could suffer serious damage, and it has since reopened. The narrow escape, however, reflects a serious problem for [Pakistan](https://time.com/6207657/imran-khan-charged-terrorism-pakistan/) and other developing countries. As storms and heatwaves grow more intense, governments are racing to [adapt to climate change](https://time.com/6189898/mangrove-trees-pakistan-climate/), investing in new infrastructure or moving residents out of at-risk areas. But with limited cash, little access to scientific modeling, and agricultural economies vulnerable to weather shocks, it’s a race many poorer nations are losing. The financial cost of Pakistan’s floods is staggering. The country’s planning minister puts it at some $10 billion—almost 4% of the country’s GDP. More than 700,000 homes have been destroyed, and huge swathes of inundated farmland will be unusable for months, according to Afia Salam, a Karachi-based environmental campaigner and journalist. “We are an agricultural country, and there will be no land to cultivate,” she says. That means millions of dollars worth of lost crop revenue and a risk of severe food shortages. Among climate experts and policymakers, such costs are known as “loss and damage”—the toll incurred from impacts you can’t avoid, because [they’re too extreme](https://time.com/longform/jacobabad-extreme-heat/), or because you don’t have the capacity to adapt to them. Currently, many countries are forced to deal with climate catastrophes in an ad hoc way: holding emergency appeals for aid, like the one the U.N. is currently coordinating for Pakistan, asking for $160 million. The U.S. has pledged $30 million, the U.K. roughly $17.3 million and Canada around $3.8 million. Those funds will go mainly to short-term relief efforts, not to compensate Pakistan’s long-term costs. --- **_A version of this story first appeared in the_** **Climate is Everything** **_newsletter. To sign up,_** [**_click here_**](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters/?newsletter%5Fname=climate&source=onsite)**_._** --- Pakistan accounts for [0.7%](https://click.newsletters.time.com/?qs=24b25d84f06a337fe254094b4cb98963b6c9581d468ee00f1c862a5b57206a8c4b295fbfb2f0daec7d6bc9c6fa699e06d38a6dfc3b7c38e3) of global carbon emissions but it is consistently ranked [among the top 10 countries](https://click.newsletters.time.com/?qs=24b25d84f06a337f2b092f3ea7cf7f2829def2f131558096d499b407ff3e96d15d29d66fa8d9c56d01ad8a538ce181c7407b5df5b2b4dddd) most vulnerable to the impacts. On Monday, the country’s foreign minister blamed climate change on the “irresponsible development of the developed world.” For decades, developing countries have argued that wealthy countries, which have historically emitted more greenhouse gasses, shouldn’t just be making haphazard charitable donations. Instead, many say they should make mandatory contributions to a fund to [compensate poorer countries ](https://time.com/6137289/climate-change-responsibility/)for loss and damage—also known as climate reparations. So far, that fund hasn’t materialized. At [last year’s U.N. climate summit](https://time.com/6121116/cop26-negotiations-failed-why/), delegates agreed to recognize the term “loss and damage” in the final communiqué for the first time. And Scotland, the summit host, became the first developed country in the world to offer some money for compensating loss and damage, pledging around $2.3 million. But the U.S., Australia, and other wealthy countries refused to even discuss the idea of a new funding mechanism as part of official negotiations, possibly due to fears about the precedent it could set for their legal liability. But as these kinds of disasters become more frequent, the compensation issue isn’t going away. And it will be a major point of contention at this November’s U.N. conference in Egypt—the first to be held outside of Europe in six years—, Salam says. “Nobody wants to foot the bill. Nobody wants to actually own up to their responsibility for climate change. 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