Pakistan, July 30 -- Pakistan is projected to be among the countries least able to protect people from rising temperatures because access to electricity needed for cooling is failing to keep pace with growing heat risks, according to a Climate Impact Lab report published this month.

The report projects that 89 percent of Pakistan's population will live by 2050 in regions caught in what it calls the "Mortality-Cooling Trap," where significant increases in heat-related deaths coincide with little or no growth in electricity consumption. It estimates climate change will contribute to 57 additional heat-related deaths per 100,000 people in those regions while electricity consumption declines slightly by 0.03 gigajoules per capita.

The findi...