PAKISTAN’S freelance services exports surged from $214 million in FY2020 to $1.76 billion in FY2026, creating new opportunities for employment and foreign exchange. While digital exports may have a smaller environmental footprint than traditional activities, they still consume energy and resources. Cleaner technology and environmental monitoring could help realize their climate dividend.

A website designer working from home in Rawalpindi can earn foreign exchange without travelling daily to an office in Islamabad. No container of merchandise leaves Karachi Port, and no physical product needs to cross an international border. The essential inputs are skills, a laptop, electricity and an internet connection.

Now multiply this opportunity across Pakistan’s expanding freelance workforce. According to the State Bank of Pakistan, exports of freelance services increased from $214 million in FY2020 to $1.76 billion in FY2026, registering an impressive compound annual growth rate of 42 per cent. The wider ICT export sector reached approximately $4.6bn in FY2026.

The growth has accelerated sharply since FY2024, with freelance export earnings more than tripling from $505 million to $1.76 billion in just two years as shown in Figure-I. ICT freelancing remains the largest contributor, while other freelance services have also expanded rapidly, reflecting the growing diversification of Pakistan’s digital workforce.

Figure-I: Exports trend of Freelance Services of Pakistan: For a country struggling to diversify exports, create productive employment and earn foreign exchange, these developments are encouraging. But they also raise an interesting question: could Pakistan’s growing digital exports deliver a climate dividend?

Unlike merchandise exports, digitally delivered services do not necessarily require factories, extensive raw materials, physical packaging or international freight. They can generate........

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