The Punjab Environment Protection and Climate Change Department has proposed a $15 million green finance and entrepreneurship project aimed at supporting more than 800 women-led startups, training 3,200 women, and creating over 12,000 green jobs. The proposal falls under the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework for Pakistan covering FY2026 to FY2035, positioning it as part of a longer term engagement between Pakistan and the World Bank rather than a standalone, short term initiative.
According to documents available with Wealth Pakistan, the proposed Gender-Responsive Climate Finance and Entrepreneurship Hub will provide women entrepreneurs with access to seed capital, green grants, business incubation, climate-resilient business models, and sustainable supply-chain training. Combining financial support with incubation and training suggests the initiative is designed to address multiple barriers women entrepreneurs often face when building climate focused businesses, from a lack of startup capital to limited access to specialized business development support that can help a green business scale sustainably. The project envisages establishing a Provincial Women’s Green Equity Fund, four Regional Green Incubation Centres, and a Punjab Green Marketplace to strengthen women’s participation in climate-related businesses. Distributing the incubation centres across four regions, rather than concentrating support in a single city, suggests an effort to extend access to women entrepreneurs outside Punjab’s largest urban centres, where startup support infrastructure has traditionally been more concentrated, while the proposed marketplace could give participating businesses a dedicated channel to reach customers and buyers for their products.
The initiative also aims to generate an estimated annual reduction of 150,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and facilitate women-led enterprises in accessing carbon markets. By explicitly tying the programme to a quantified emissions reduction target, the proposal positions supporting women-led green businesses not just as an economic development effort but as a measurable contribution to Punjab’s broader climate goals, with the ability to tap into carbon markets potentially offering these enterprises an additional revenue stream beyond their core business activities. The proposed initiative will target more than 3,200 beneficiaries through financial assistance, entrepreneurship training, incubation, and market linkages, with a focus on businesses contributing to the green economy. EP&CCD has been identified as the lead entity, while the Women Development Department, Punjab Information Technology Board, and UN Women are proposed as supporting partners, bringing together agencies with expertise spanning environmental policy, gender focused development, digital infrastructure, and international development support.
The project also proposes a digital monitoring and evaluation dashboard using gender disaggregated data and verified emission reductions to track its progress and climate impact, giving the initiative a structured mechanism for measuring outcomes across both its entrepreneurship and environmental objectives as it moves from proposal toward implementation. Should the project proceed as outlined, it would add to a growing set of World Bank backed initiatives in Pakistan aimed at combining gender inclusion with climate resilience, reflecting a broader international development trend of designing programmes that address economic and environmental goals simultaneously rather than treating them as separate tracks.
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