Bangladesh can raise up to $12.5 billion in additional financing in the medium-term for climate action with the financing options including budget prioritisation, carbon taxation, external financing and private investment.
The country continues to face severe and increasing climate risks and without urgent action, including further adaptation and resilience measures, the country’s strong growth potential could be at risk, according to the World Bank Group’s Country Climate and Development Report for Bangladesh released on Monday.
The report outlines priority actions and financing needs to help Bangladesh address the climate crisis. It recognises Bangladesh's successful experience with locally-led climate adaptation and recommends investments in infrastructure and services to strengthen climate resilience while supporting long-term growth.
Actions focused on improved agriculture productivity, energy and transport efficiency can lower future emissions while improving air, soil and water quality.
Climate change will hit poor and vulnerable people the hardest. Average tropical cyclones cost Bangladesh about $1 billion annually. By 2050, a third of agricultural GDP (gross domestic product) could be lost and 13 million people could become internal climate migrants. In case of severe flooding, GDP could fall by as much as 9 per cent.
"Bangladesh has led the way in adaptation and disaster risk management. Over the past 50 years, it has reduced cyclone-related deaths 100-fold. Other countries can learn from this," said Martin Raiser, World Bank vice-president for South Asia.
"But with ever-increasing climate risks, further adaptation efforts are vital, and a low-carbon development path is critical to a resilient future for Bangladesh," he added.
At just 0.4 per cent, Bangladesh's current contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is not significant. But, with its large population and fast economic growth, if the country follows a 'business-as-usual' development pathway, GHG emissions will increase substantially.
Bangladesh also faces a high level of air pollution, which costs about 9 per cent of the GDP annually.
Improved air quality standards across multiple sectors will improve health and increase climate resilience. The country's 2021 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) commit to reducing emissions by 21.8 per cent by 2030. With strong implementation, technology development and uptake, and regional collaboration, Bangladesh can exceed these commitments.
"In the face of multiple severe risks from climate change, Bangladesh urgently needs to spur more private sector involvement not only to deliver the billions of dollars needed for climate action, but also to drive innovation and efficiency to benefit and protect the country's people," said John F Gandolfo, IFC's acting regional vice-president for Asia and the Pacific.
The report highlights three priority areas for Bangladesh's climate-resilient growth and development.
People-centric, climate-smart development: A development approach that considers regional variations in climate impacts and builds on Bangladesh's experience of locally-led adaptation and small-scale solutions is vital.
Delivering development benefits with decarbonisation: Emissions from energy, transport, industry, and agriculture can be reduced at relatively low cost and yield significant co-benefits related to air pollution, health costs, and jobs.
Enabling environment and institutional realignment: With a stronger legislative and institutional capacity, Bangladesh can accelerate the implementation of existing policies and programmes. Empowering local governments to plan and implement adaptation programmes will be important.
Some parts of Bangladesh are more prone to climate change impacts. Hence, investments should be prioritised for climate hotspots such as in the Barind, coastal zone, haor area, and hill tracts, and the regions facing higher poverty rates and natural hazards - the western upazilas of Mymensingh, eastern upazilas of Rangpur, and southern parts of Khulna division.
The report identifies high-impact interventions that are ready for implementation. This includes prioritising and allocating financing for the most urgent projects under the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, transforming food systems, implementing energy-efficient and circular economy solutions in ready-made garments and textile factories, setting resilient and energy-efficient building standards, and mitigating emissions through tariff reforms and loss reduction.
The Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 and Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan recognise these priorities.
"Bangladesh has taken bold steps toward its goal to support global efforts for combating climate change," said MIGA Executive Vice-President, Hiroshi Matano.
At the report launch, the World Bank awarded the winners of the IdeaBuzz Championship, a youth competition seeking climate-smart solutions for inclusive growth in Bangladesh.
The competition garnered huge interest, with participation from over 400 university students.
The first, second and third prizes were awarded to the students of the Islamic University of Technology, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka, respectively.
