Lahore, Karachi, Multan, Faisalabad rank among world's least climate-resilient major cities

Four Pakistani cities are among the least climate-resilient major cities in the world, with Multan, Lahore, Faisalabad and Karachi ranking among the eight cities facing the largest gaps between climate risks and their capacity to adapt, according to a new assessment of 72 urban centres. The assessment by climate risk analysis company AlphaGeo placed Multan third, with a score of 38, among the cities identified as having the greatest gap between climate risks and their ability to adapt. Lahore ranked fifth, Faisalabad seventh and Karachi eighth. The report assessed cities against a range of climate hazards, including inland and coastal flooding, extreme heat, drought, wildfires and tropical cyclones. It then considered existing adaptation measures to estimate the level of risk that remains. AlphaGeo said six South Asian cities were among those with the lowest capacity to cope with climate-related risks. It attributed the region's vulnerability largely to extreme heat and limited adaptation measures relative to the scale of the risks faced by cities. The company said South Asia had a particularly large number of urban centres where efforts to adapt to and protect against climate hazards had not yet reached the level required to match the intensity of those threats. The report also identified several cities as having comparatively stronger climate resilience, including Chicago, Barcelona, Paris, London, Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Melbourne. Among Chinese cities, Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen and Shanghai performed better in terms of the effectiveness of measures taken to address climate risks, according to the assessment. AlphaGeo said Pakistan and Bangladesh required particular attention because major cities in both countries face significant climate risks while gaps remain in their ability to adapt and reduce those threats. The company warned that such gaps could place additional pressure on post-disaster recovery, infrastructure repair and population displacement following climate-related disasters.