Progress in Development Studies 15, 1 (2015) pp. 73–86 © 2015 SAGE Publications 10.1177/1464993414546976  Climate change: A threat to the economic growth of Pakistan Naeem Akram Ministry of Economic Affairs, Islamabad, Pakistan Abdul Hamid Office of the Auditor General of Pakistan, Islamabad, Pakistan Abstract: Pakistan is recognized as a country with low income along with poor human development indicators. Although its contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is miniscule in comparison with other countries (it contributes only about 0.8 per cent of the total GHG emissions), it is one of the major victims of the adverse effects of climate change. The present study is an attempt to explore the impacts of climate change on the economic growth of Pakistan by conducting a national level analysis for the period 1973–2011. It has been found that temperature (proxy for climate change) has a negative and significant relationship with GDP, as well as with productivity in the agricultural, manufacturing and services sectors. The severity of these negative effects is higher for the Agriculture sector as compared to manufacturing and services. Key words: climate change, economic growth, cointegration, seemingly unrelated regression I Introduction The effects of climate change on economic development are no longer a mystery but are rapidly becoming a stark reality. Accelerating emissions of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) in developing countries, especially in the emerging economies, have raised serious concerns about the relationship between climate change and economic growth. Rising GHG emissions are resulting in the increased temperatures and are having serious impacts on climate. Although climate change may initially have some positive effects for some developed countries, for example, Canada, in the long run it will be destructive (Parry et al., 2007). Moreover, the impacts of climate change are not evenly distributed – the poorest countries and people will suffer earliest and most (Nordhaus, 1991; Stern, 2006) – because these countries are more vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change on water resources, ecosystems, crop production, fisheries and human health. These countries have a large population dependent on climate- sensitive sectors and they have low adaptive capacity to develop and implement adaptation strategies. Despite their limited role in GHGs by guest on March 8, 2016 pdj.sagepub.com Downloaded from