Part 1: From Coal to Wind – What Pakistan Can Learn from the UK’s Clean Energy Transition

When you walk through parts of eastern England, particularly Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, you see fields that used to be dominated by coal mines now lined with rows of sleek, white wind turbines. The contrast is symbolic: the UK, once the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution powered by coal, is now positioning itself as a global leader in clean energy.

In 2023, for the first time in its history, the UK produced more electricity from renewables than from fossil fuels. Wind power, both onshore and offshore, accounted for around a third of total electricity generation. Solar, though smaller in scale, is becoming a common feature on rooftops from London suburbs to rural schools in Scotland. Alongside these developments, the UK has legally committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 — a target enshrined in law, backed by policy, and debated fiercely in public discourse.

For someone like me, observing this shift firsthand while living and working in the UK, the transformation has been striking. It raises an obvious question: What lessons, if any, can Pakistan draw from the UK’s journey?

The UK’s Playbook: How the Transition Happened

Policy Consistency and Legal Backing
The UK’s Climate Change Act of 2008 created a long-term framework, requiring governments to set legally binding carbon budgets. This provided predictability for investors and industries. It wasn’t about one political party’s agenda — it became a national commitment.

Lesson for Pakistan: Energy planning in Pakistan often shifts with political cycles. Long-term, legally binding commitments to renewable energy could help reduce uncertainty for investors and development partners.

Incentives for Renewables
The UK initially offered subsidies such as feed-in tariffs to households and small businesses installing solar panels. Later, it moved to competitive auctions that drove down costs of wind and solar projects.

Lesson for Pakistan: While Pakistan has some incentives, bureaucratic hurdles, inconsistent tariffs, and lack of financing mechanisms deter small-scale adoption. Streamlined, transparent subsidies or low-interest green loans could trigger uptake.

Offshore Wind Revolution
The UK’s North Sea coast is dotted with massive offshore wind farms. Projects like Hornsea, off the Yorkshire coast, have become among the world’s largest. They not only supply power but also generate local jobs in engineering, construction, and maintenance.

Lesson for Pakistan: While Pakistan lacks offshore potential at this scale, it has vast onshore wind corridors in Sindh (Jhimpir-Gharo) that remain underutilised. Learning from UK’s model of public-private partnerships could unlock this resource.

Integration with the Grid
Renewable energy is variable, so the UK has invested in grid upgrades, battery storage, and interconnectors with Europe. Smart grid systems ensure flexibility and resilience.

Lesson for Pakistan: Grid instability is one of the biggest hurdles to integrating renewables. Without upgrading transmission infrastructure, adding more solar or wind plants risks worsening blackouts rather than solving them.

Public Engagement and Local Buy-in
In towns like Hull, where shipbuilding once thrived, new offshore wind manufacturing hubs have revived local economies. This has made clean energy not just a climate story, but an economic one — creating a sense of ownership among communities.

Lesson for Pakistan: Renewable energy projects often face opposition in Pakistan because local communities don’t see direct benefits. Community participation, local job creation, and revenue-sharing could change this perception.

Pakistan’s Energy Conundrum

Back home, Pakistan faces chronic energy crises — long hours of load-shedding, ballooning circular debt, and over-dependence on imported fuels. Nearly 60% of Pakistan’s power generation still comes from fossil fuels, much of it imported oil and LNG, which expose the country to global price shocks. Hydropower provides some relief, but climate variability has made river flows unreliable.

Solar and wind remain marginal players in the energy mix. Despite vast potential — Pakistan has an estimated 60,000 MW of wind power capacity in Sindh and 2.9 million MW solar potential nationwide — actual installed capacity remains under 10% of total power generation.

Unlike the UK, Pakistan’s policies have often been stop-start. Net metering, for instance, was introduced in 2015 but has since been subject to regulatory uncertainty, discouraging households and businesses. Investors complain of payment delays, tariff disputes, and lack of coordination between provinces and federal authorities.

What Pakistan Can Take Away

Make It a National, Non-Political Agenda
Just as the UK’s Climate Change Act provided continuity across governments, Pakistan needs cross-party consensus. Energy security should be treated as a non-partisan, strategic goal.

Leverage International Partnerships
The UK has benefited from European collaboration and global investment in renewables. Pakistan too can tap into climate finance, particularly the Green Climate Fund and new loss-and-damage mechanisms agreed at COP28.

Think Jobs, Not Just Megawatts
Framing renewables as an employment and economic growth driver, as the UK has done in Hull and Teesside, could generate public support in Pakistan. Wind turbine manufacturing and solar assembly industries could create thousands of jobs.

Modernise the Grid
Without investment in smart grids and storage, Pakistan risks adding capacity without reliability. Public-private investment in transmission is as crucial as generation.

Start Local: Rooftops and Villages
While mega-projects get headlines, UK households and schools installing rooftop solar played a big role in shifting culture. In Pakistan, decentralised solar in villages could transform rural electrification.

A Shared Future

The UK’s clean energy story is not without challenges. Rising costs of offshore projects, political debates over net-zero deadlines, and community resistance to onshore turbines show that the path is not smooth. Yet, the overall trajectory is clear: coal is gone, renewables are dominant, and a low-carbon economy is the future.

For Pakistan, the challenge is existential. Every summer, load-shedding paralyses industries, frustrates citizens, and slows growth. With climate change worsening floods and heatwaves, reliance on fossil fuels is not only unsustainable but dangerous.

Standing on the windy coasts of Yorkshire, it’s easy to imagine Pakistan’s own Gharo-Jhimpir corridor dotted with turbines, or its villages powered by community solar. The UK shows that with political will, smart policies, and public engagement, the transition is possible. The question is: when will Pakistan take that leap?