ISLAMABAD: Five major Pakistani cities have been ranked among the world’s 10 least resilient urban centres to climate risks, underscoring the country’s growing exposure to extreme weather and rising temperatures.
Hyderabad, Multan, Lahore, Faisalabad and Karachi were included in a global assessment covering 72 major cities, according to a report released by geospatial analytics firm AlphaGeo.
The study distinguishes between a city’s physical exposure to climate hazards and its resilience-adjusted risk (RAJ), offering an assessment of how effectively urban areas can withstand and adapt to climate-related threats.
In the global ranking, Hyderabad stood second, followed by Multan in third place. Lahore ranked fifth, Faisalabad seventh and Karachi eighth among the least climate-resilient cities.
India’s Ahmedabad occupied the top position on the list.
The report noted that the six highest-risk major cities were all located in South Asia, namely Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Multan, Dhaka, Kolkata and Lahore. It said heat exposure was a major factor behind the elevated risk levels, while adaptation capacity remained comparatively weak.
Dhaka was identified as the most physically exposed city in the assessment, recording a physical risk score of 60. Although its adaptation efforts reduced the risk by 24 points, its remaining RAJ score of 36 continued to place it among the highest-risk major cities.
The report warned that such levels of climate risk could have significant implications for property values, infrastructure durability and business continuity, particularly for investors in real assets.
It also highlighted potential financial pressures on governments in countries where major cities face high climate risks but lack sufficient capacity to strengthen adaptation. These pressures could include increased spending on disaster response, infrastructure reconstruction and the relocation of affected populations.
Pakistan and Bangladesh were singled out for particular concern, with the report pointing to the combination of high urban climate risk and relatively limited capacity to close the adaptation gap quickly enough to match the pace of growing physical threats.
