Cabinet body revives dormant Clean Environment Fund Company

Pakistan's Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises (CCoSOEs) decided on Monday to activate the Clean Environment Fund Company (CEFC), a non-profit created in 2015 that has remained dormant for more than a decade, Dawn reported.

The committee, chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, approved a request from the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination to activate the company under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (PEPA), ProPakistani reported, citing an official statement. The plan provides for two ex-officio directors and three independent directors on the company's board.

The fund is meant to mobilise and spend money on environmental protection work. Dawn noted that Pakistan ranks among the lowest countries on the global environment index.

The CEFC was incorporated in 2015 under Section 42 of the Companies Ordinance as a non-profit to support environmental protection, conservation, rehabilitation and improvement, with a mandate to raise and use financial resources for environmental initiatives.

ProPakistani reported that the company never got off the ground despite repeated warnings from state auditors. The Auditor General of Pakistan found that it had failed to achieve its core objectives because its board never met, and that it had breached the Companies Act's requirement, under Section 132, to hold annual general meetings.

Dawn reported that the CCoSOEs also approved the induction of new board members at a couple of state-owned enterprises. ProPakistani said appointments were approved at several SOEs. Neither report named the companies or the people appointed. The CEFC decision was one of a set of SOE-related approvals taken at the same meeting.

Neither report said how much the fund is expected to raise, when it will begin operations, or what the new board's first steps will be.