Pakistan Climate Risk Grows as Major Cities Rank Weakest

Pakistan – (Staff Reporter/Web Desk) – Pakistan climate risk has reached a new and worrying level, according to a fresh global study on urban climate resilience. The report looked at 72 major cities around the world and found that five Pakistani cities are among the ten least ready to handle climate pressures.

The study comes from AlphaGeo, a geospatial analytics firm. It did not just measure how exposed a city is to heat, floods, or other climate stress. It also looked at how well each city is adapting. This gap between danger and readiness is called the resilience-adjusted risk, or RAJ.

Hyderabad landed in second place on the list of least resilient cities. Multan followed closely in third place. Lahore came in fifth, Faisalabad seventh, and Karachi eighth. These rankings place Pakistan at the center of a growing regional problem.

India’s Ahmedabad topped the full list as the least resilient city in the world. But the report made clear that South Asia as a whole is struggling. Six of the highest risk cities globally are from this region alone.

Heat is the biggest driver behind these low scores. Cities like Hyderabad and Multan face intense and long lasting heat waves. Yet their ability to adapt has not grown at the same speed as the danger.

Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, was named the most physically exposed city in the entire study. Even though Dhaka has improved its adaptation efforts, the risk it carries remains among the highest anywhere.

The report explained why this matters beyond daily weather. High RAJ scores can hurt property values. They can shorten the life of roads, bridges, and buildings. They can also disrupt normal business operations for years.

For governments, the danger goes further. Cities with high risk and weak adaptation create hidden costs. These costs show up later in the form of disaster relief spending, rebuilding projects, and people forced to leave their homes.

The report specifically pointed to Pakistan and Bangladesh as nations needing urgent attention. Both countries show a wide and growing gap between how much risk their cities face and how fast they are able to respond.

This warning is not new, but the scale shown in this report is striking. Pakistan is now sitting beside some of the most climate stressed cities on Earth. The question is no longer whether the risk exists. It clearly does.

The real question is how fast the country can close the gap. Better heat planning, updated infrastructure, and stronger local policies could all help. Without these steps, experts warn the risk will keep climbing year after year.

As global temperatures continue to rise, reports like this one offer an early signal. They show which places may struggle the most in the years ahead. For Pakistan, this report is a clear call to prepare faster and smarter.