Four Pakistani Cities Face Climate Resilience Test
News Desk
Islamabad: For millions of people living in South Asia’s rapidly expanding cities, climate change is no longer a distant concern.
Rising temperatures, intense monsoon rains, flooding and water shortages are increasingly putting urban infrastructure to the test, raising questions about how prepared cities are to cope with a changing climate.
A new assessment of climate resilience across 72 major cities highlights the scale of the challenge, with four Pakistani cities ranking among those facing significant residual climate risks.
Presented by The New York Times and based on research by AlphaGeo, the assessment looks beyond cities’ exposure to climate hazards. It also evaluates their capacity to prepare for, withstand and respond to those risks.
Among the cities assessed, Multan ranked third among those with the highest residual climate risk, with a score of 38. Lahore ranked fifth with 35, followed by Faisalabad in seventh place with 34 and Karachi in eighth with 32.
India’s Ahmedabad topped the list with a score of 41, followed by Hyderabad, while Bangladesh’s Dhaka ranked fourth with 36. Kolkata and Chittagong also featured among cities with comparatively high residual risks.
The assessment also lists Hyderabad in Pakistan among the most vulnerable cities, with a score of 41.
Climate risks extend beyond flooding
The study assessed cities against a range of climate hazards, including inland and coastal flooding, extreme heat, drought, wildfires and strong winds associated with cyclones.
But exposure to these hazards was only one part of the assessment.
Researchers also examined how effectively cities are equipped to deal with climate threats, considering factors such as early-warning systems, government policies, infrastructure, flood protection, water-storage capacity and drainage networks.
The findings point to a broader challenge across South Asia, where densely populated urban centres face multiple climate threats while their capacity to adapt remains comparatively limited.
For Pakistan’s cities, the combination of extreme heat, intense monsoon rainfall and flooding poses a growing challenge. Rapid urbanisation and increasing pressure on existing infrastructure can further amplify the effects of extreme weather.
Infrastructure could determine the outcome
While climate risks cannot be eliminated completely, the assessment suggests their impact can be significantly reduced through stronger infrastructure, effective planning and timely government action.
Reliable early-warning systems can give communities valuable time to prepare, evacuate or protect property. Efficient drainage networks can help reduce flooding during intense rainfall, while long-term investment in water management and flood protection can strengthen cities against future climate shocks.
The rankings therefore offer more than a measure of vulnerability. They also highlight the importance of what cities do before disaster strikes.
Chicago leads resilience rankings
At the other end of the scale, Chicago in the United States emerged as the city with the lowest residual climate risk in the assessment, recording a score of 8.
It was followed by Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Melbourne in Australia, Barcelona in Spain, Ankara in Türkiye and Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Chicago’s relatively strong position is linked to factors including its comparatively mild climate, access to freshwater and lower exposure to hurricanes. The city has also invested for decades in infrastructure designed to manage flooding, including underground tunnels and large-scale water-storage systems.
The contrast between Chicago and highly exposed cities in South Asia highlights a key lesson of the assessment: climate resilience depends not only on geography, but also on preparedness, planning and investment.
As climate hazards intensify, the ability of cities to withstand, respond to and recover from extreme weather may become just as important as the hazards themselves.
