The International Labour Organization (ILO) and Pakistan’s National Productivity Organization (NPO) said on 1 October that they intend to expand the resource-efficiency component of their just-transition and climate initiative. NPO was selected through an open bidding process to carry out the first phase. That phase covered resource-efficiency assessments, energy reviews, shop-floor productivity and safety audits in 16 manufacturing factories across the automotive and textile sectors. The announcement focused on sharing the findings and practical lessons more widely.

Four dissemination workshops and two training-of-trainers sessions were held in Lahore and Karachi around the first phase. The ministry said these activities reached about 300 stakeholders. That figure does not mean that 300 factories or workers received factory-level interventions nationwide. The programme examines how businesses use energy and other resources, how work processes perform, and where occupational-safety improvements may be possible. It treats environmental efficiency and production performance together. The announcement did not say every factory would adopt the same measures or achieve identical savings.

The ministry put potential annual savings arising from the initial assessments at approximately Rs26,397,206. It described this amount as potential, not as realised savings recorded across Pakistan or money already distributed to participating companies. The release offered no factory-by-factory calculation or methodological detail for the estimate. The figure should therefore be read as an estimate of possible scale, not as a confirmed financial result. It does not establish that the savings have already been achieved or that they will recur at the same level.

The agencies said beneficiary companies presented practical lessons from their assessments at dissemination workshops held in Lahore and Karachi during the month. The ILO stated its intention to partner with NPO to take the initiative nationwide, with a focus on wider dissemination and replication of resource- and energy-efficiency practices. The statement records that intention as the next step. It did not publish a national rollout calendar, a target number of factories, a budget or a completed list of new sites.

The release also said NPO had drafted a resource-efficiency law and was developing a firm-level management system. These are preparatory and development activities; a draft law is not enacted legislation. The broader initiative aims to improve industrial productivity, lower production costs, reduce natural-resource use and strengthen resilience to climate risks. The distinction is central: 16 factories were assessed, the workshops reached about 300 stakeholders, and a potential-savings estimate was reported; nationwide expansion remains a planned next phase rather than a completed programme.