Home ›› 10 Feb 2022 ›› Back
It is time to frame law in order to address issues related to climate change before it is too late, according to experts.
They said Bangladesh is a small contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting for 0.25 per cent of global emissions.
The experts’ opinion came at a consultation workshop on “Climate change and institutions in Bangladesh” organised by Policy Research Institute (PRI) on Wednesday.
PRI senior fellow Hasan Moinuddin presented his keynote speech at the workshop stressing the need for a Climate Change Act for Bangladesh.
“Commitments related to climate change have been made under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Bangladesh has set policy priorities. However, a national Climate Change Act will provide a legal basis for climate resilient practices,” he said.
“17 European countries including France, Germany and the UK have national climate laws. Asian countries like China, Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea have similar laws.”
The workshop focused on climate budget allocation, coordination among agencies and ministries, public finance tracking and plans.
PRI Chairman Zaidi Sattar presided over the event.
To address the vast area of climate change there is a need to formulate the Climate Change act in no time, he said.
“70 countries are responsible for 80 per cent of global carbon emissions, and they have made commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050,” observed Sattar.
“To achieve net-zero transition globally, additional investment of $ 3.5 trillion a year would be required and 200 million jobs will be created with new technology adoption while 185 million jobs will be lost.”
Bangladesh is a small contributor to global GHG emissions.
Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury, Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI) president, laid emphasis on reduction and recycling of waste water gushing out of different industries.
“The world’s 20 per cent waste water is generated from fashion industries.”
Methane situation in capital’s sky
Mirza Shawkat Ali, director (Climate change and international convention) of the Department of Environment, said the international media reported that the capital Dhaka’s sky has a high concentration of methane, and they will come up with a report on this next month.
GHG Sat Inc, a Canada-based emission-tracking company observed that the Matuail landfill in Dhaka emits four metric tonnes of methane into the atmosphere every hour.
Methane raises atmospheric temperature 80 times more than carbon dioxide does.
Following the analysis of satellite images, it was found that the landfill emits methane per hour equaling the emission of 190,000 passenger cars.
A 10-member committee comprised of academicians and government high-ups was formed one year ago by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
The committee was asked to submit the report within one month.
However, the report is going to be submitted in March after one year of formation of the committee.
State Minister Shamsul Alam of the Ministry of Planning attended the workshop as the chief guest while PRI Director Ahsan H Mansur delivered the welcome speech.
