Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development (PRIED) is an independent public interest think-tank based in Islamabad, Pakistan.
We started PRIED because we believe how a country powers itself is one of the most consequential decisions it can make. That decision should be made with evidence, with fairness, and with every voice at the table.
Perhaps most importantly, we work directly with communities whose lives are shaped by energy policy, helping them connect, share information, and make their voices heard in spaces where they're often absent.
Holding our own in global conversations about transitioning away from fossil fuels, ensuring Pakistan and affected communities have a seat at the table.
Connecting legislators, policymakers, businesses, and activists. The energy transition touches everyone and should involve everyone.
Offering empirical, clear and critical feedback to decision-makers. Sometimes that means support, sometimes it means advocating for a policy rethink.
Institutional Legacy and Strategy: PRIED carries forward the work of RDPI — the Rural Development Policy Institute — which spent two decades working across energy, climate justice, local development and disaster mitigation. That history and purpose lives in us; it keeps us grounded and continues to guide us. To this end, PRIED has devised a detailed strategy for its operations, spanning over the next three years. You can read the strategy here.
Every Pakistani enjoys equitable access to renewable, reliable, and affordable sources of energy.
To accelerate Pakistan’s transition from fossil fuels and large hydroelectric projects to renewable sources of energy and to ensure economic, social, and climatic justice during this transition.
We undertake rigorous research on what Pakistan's energy and climate policies actually do to communities, ecosystems and household budgets. From tracking coal's impact on Thar's communities, to mapping barriers to green finance, and what solar and mini-grids could mean for those still off the grid, our findings go into reports and briefs designed to shift policy debates toward people-centered outcomes. Our research is independent; our intent, however, is far from neutral.
Our most important work happens with communities, not just for them. In Thar, we've been alongside people living with coal's consequences since 2012, helping them find their voice in decisions that too often get made without them. The same spirit drives us to build networks we're proud of, including the Alliance for Climate Justice and Clean Energy and the Pakistan Renewable Energy Coalition - and to connect with global partners because the challenges we work on don't stop at borders, and neither should the people working on them.
Research means little without the will to push for change, so we take our findings directly to decision-makers and don't let them off the hook. We're particularly proud of helping establish the Parliamentary Forum on Energy and Economy, a cross-party group of legislators willing to ask hard questions about energy and the economy in the public interest. When lobbying policymakers isn't enough, we write directly to government and multilateral development actors with evidence-based critiques of what needs to change.
Energy transition needs an informed public and a press willing to cover it responsibly, which is why we've trained over a hundred journalists and content creators to report on energy and climate justice from a public interest perspective. What's grown from that work is a Pakistan-wide community of journalists who keep covering these issues, doing investigative work on the stories that tend to fall through the cracks.
How Pakistan's reliance on imported LNG, petroleum, and coal has created a ₨2.63 trillion circular debt crisis. A comprehensive study with a roadmap toward renewable energy transition.
Read Full Report →Research alone cannot deliver economic, social, and climate justice in Pakistan’s energy transition. That is why PRIED weaves media relations into its programs.
Policy shifts when discourse shifts, and discourse shifts when journalists ask the right questions.
Questions like that require an informed public to pressure decision-makers.
To build that public, PRIED has trained 100 plus journalists and creators.
It partners with media outlets and digital startups to extend reach.
Through fellowships and summer schools, it has produced 300 plus media pieces grounded in PRIED research.
It also runs three specialized media monitors. For media and researchers, they serve as a reliable resource.
Together, they act as quiet accountability for whether energy and climate issues are reported well, reported at all, or falling through the cracks.
PRIED runs three monitors:
Weekly and Six Monthly Media Monitor: Tracks how Pakistan’s press covers energy and climate. Now an institutionalized output with archives from 2025 through 2026.
Quarterly Energy Monitor: Assesses broader sector trends across Pakistan’s energy landscape.
Specialized Climate Monitor: Focuses on policy commitments and their implementation. They give journalists and researchers a curated record of how the national energy conversation evolves: what gets attention and what’s ignored.
Together, they serve as quiet accountability for whether these issues are reported well, reported at all, or falling through the cracks.
Pakistan's weekly tracking of media coverage on energy, climate, and environmental policy — curating what gets reported, what is ignored, and how the national conversation is evolving.
Read Full Monitor →
A PRIED consultation on how the war in and around Iran and disrupted supply routes exposed Pakistan's deep dependence on imported fossil fuels — and the urgency to rethink its energy and climate path.
Senior officials, community representatives and K-Electric joined a PRIED dialogue endorsing the solarisation of high-loss feeders as the most feasible, sustainable way out of the crisis.
At the launch of "Unlocking the Economic Potential of Rooftop Solar PV in Pakistan", experts showed how financing barriers — not demand — are holding back home rooftop solar where it is needed most.
PRIED has engaged with communities affected by energy policies since its inception.
For instance, its work is Thar, where coal development has been ongoing since 2012–13, it helps communities mobilize and make their voices heard at national and international forums.
PRIED also engages regularly with policymakers and Pakistan’s multilateral and bilateral development partners.
It arranges public events, seminars, consultations, and in-person meetings to promote equity in the energy and climate sectors.
Beyond convening, and in collaboration with allied institutions and stakeholders, it writes letters to government representatives and multilateral development banks. The letters critique policies, plans, and projects when they fall short of justice.
A bipartisan Parliamentary Forum on Economy and Energy dedicated to analyzing the energy-economy nexus through collaboration with experts and think tanks.
Pakistan-based coalition co-founded by PRIED — working on energy transition, climate justice, and coal phaseout advocacy at national level.
Co-founded by PRIED to advocate for Pakistan's transition to renewable energy and accelerate clean energy deployment and the just phaseout of fossil fuels.
Regional network connecting Pakistan's experience with Asia-wide struggles against unjust financial flows and debt-driven development projects.
Global coalition connecting Pakistan's energy transition experience to worldwide movements for fossil fuel phaseout and clean energy advocacy.