The United States was working with Pakistan to achieve its goal of raising its share of renewable energy from 34 per cent to 60 per cent by 2030, the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs said on Friday.

“This includes Pakistan’s plans to install 10,000 megawatts of solar power, which could provide power to more than a third of Pakistani households,” the bureau said in a series of posts on social media platform X.

The statement comes against the backdrop of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s three-day visit to Pakistan.

Tehran and Islamabad agreed to “expeditiously finalise” a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), a joint statement said on Wednesday.

“They also reiterated the importance of cooperation in the energy domain, including trade in electricity, power transmission lines and Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project,” the statement said and recalled their aim to increase bilateral trade volume to $10 billion dollars over the next five years.

When asked for comments on the proposed deals between Pakistan and Iran following Raisi’s visit, a US State Department spokesperson, Vedant Patel, said: “We advise anyone considering business deals with Iran to be aware of the potential risk of sanctions.”

US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu was also asked about Pakistan’s pursuit to complete its section of the gas pipeline with Iran during his appearance at the Congressional hearing last month.

“I don’t see from where the financing will come. We have not heard from Pakistan about the waiver of any sanctions. We want to have questions with Pakistan about where they can find other non-Iranian gas. Pakistan is interested in clean energy,” Lu said and added that the US was tracking the development.

At COP26 in Glasgow last year, former caretaker prime minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar said Pakistan increased its ambitions by presenting the revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) with a target of 60 per cent overall reduction in projected emissions by 2030.

In the post, the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs added that the US was already powering the homes of millions of Pakistanis by supporting thousands of megawatts of clean energy capacity in the country.

“A $500,000 US grant is furthering research & development of electric vehicles at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. Also, USAID helped leverage nearly $100 million in Pakistan’s new Global Climate Fund to advance climate resilience, climate smart agriculture, & improve water management,” it said.

There were mixed reactions on social media to the US State Department’s post.

Ameen Haqqi, whose profile says he’s a defence analyst, said that the partnership between the US and Pakistan on renewable energy development was an encouraging sign of international cooperation to tackle climate change and support sustainable energy transitions in developing countries.

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“Boosting renewable energy is crucial for Pakistan to meet its growing electricity demand while reducing its reliance on fossil fuels,” he said. But he claimed that there were issues with the management and use of US funds intended to support Pakistan’s renewable energy goals.

“Indeed, US funds are being misused and will almost certainly be squandered by the Pakistani government, which is problematic and undermines the partnership’s and investments’ intent.”

Some of the pro-PTI supporters highlighted the state of incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan.

Another user, identifying himself as Abdullah Imran, called for having distribution lines and reviewing the IPP contracts and slowly phasing out the fossil fuel energy with hydropower.