Bangladesh is honored to be chosen the presidency of the 48-nation Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) for the second time (2020-2021), and the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group of Finance Ministers. The CVF represents over one billion people of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries. Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh H.E. Sheikh Hasina is serving as Chair of the CVF since June 2020. As a chair, she has launched a draft plan after the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to develop as the “Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan 2021-2030” for Bangladesh, while delivering the chair speech at the CVF Leaders’ event on 07 October 2020, in presence of the UN Secretary-General H.E. Mr. António Guterres, Chair of the Global Center on Adaptation H.E. Ban Ki-Moon, Head of Member-States and government representatives of the CVF. The Mujib climate plan was formulated marking the “birth centenary” of the Father of Nation who recognized the threats of natural calamities and took several initiatives to protect people during his tenure (1972-1975).
The Mujib climate plan did not replace any existing plan, but aims to supplement and accelerate their implementation. The plan needs not to create any operational institution to ensure its implementation, but will expedite the Bangladesh NDC of Paris climate goals to cut emissions. The Mujib plan is a strategy of 5 themes that explores the possibilities and potential of socio-economic development, climate resilience and green opportunities. It will find-out the funding needs from international, regional and private sources, to contribute to the domestic economy.
Bangladesh is the 7th most affected country in the world due to the adverse impacts of climate change, according to the Climate Change Vulnerability Index. Bangladesh is contributing only 0.3 tonne of annual carbon emission (0.36% of the global carbon emissions), while developed nations about 20 tonnes. Bangladesh ranks 152nd out of 188 countries of world GHG emission, 7th on Global Climate Risk Index, 33rd most vulnerable country and 25th least ready country, meaning that while it is highly vulnerable, it is not ready to prevent or reduce climate change effects.
Bangladesh had prepared its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), and already submitted the NDC interim-report on 31 December 2020, and updated final report on 26 August 2021 to the UNFCCC head office. In the NDC, Bangladesh committed to reduce GHG emissions in the power, industry and transport sectors of 12 MTCO2e or 5% below 'business-as-usual' with domestic resources by 2030 as unconditional and 36 MTCO2e or 15% below 'business-as-usual' with foreign technology support within 2030 as conditional contribution.
Mujib First Vision
“No plan, however well-formulated, can be implemented unless there is a total commitment on the part of the people of the country to work hard and make necessary sacrifices” - a Forward Message taken from the First Five Year Plan 1973-1978 by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as Prime Minister and Chairman, Planning Commission. He was dedicated for the development of Bangladesh, and included the important sectors: power, industry, natural resources, agriculture, communication, transport, education, health, social-welfare, and technological development in the plan.
Mujib Climate Plan - ‘Resilient’ to ‘Prosperity’
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina being the Chair of CVF is expected to speak at the COP-26 to be held in Glasgow, UK in November 2021 on behalf of the CVF. In her earlier first term in 2020 as the CVF Chair, she had initiated a discussion amongst member countries to shift their “climate vulnerability” to make more “climate resilient”.
In her second term as the CVF President (2021), she initiated a new discussion amongst the CVF members to shift the “climate resilient” to “climate prosperity”. The difference between them is that “resilient” focuses on self-managing the adverse risks of climate change, while “prosperity” implies overcoming those risks and becoming prosperous despite those prevailing risks. The 48 CVF countries are now co-opting this concept and many of them are preparing their own Climate Prosperity Plans, following Bangladesh’s Mujib climate plan.
Main Themes of Mujib Climate Plan
Theme-1:
Mujib climate plan will make a bridge to implement the existing plans and programs in the quicker strategies as to supplement and accelerate them. The plans are: National Adaptation Plan (underway); National Adaptation Program of Action-2009; Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan-2009; Climate Change Trust Fund Act-2010; Climate Change Trust Fund-2010; Bangladesh Delta Plan-2100; Climate Fiscal Framework, for Climate Fiscal Policy-making; 8th Five Year Plan (Country Investment Plan for Environment, Forestry and Climate Change 2020-2025; Perspective Plan 2021-2041; Forest Investment Plan 2017-2022; Coastal Embankment Improvement Project; Climate Resilience Program; and Climate Investment Funds.
Theme-2:
The plan aims to achieve transformative change by enabling Bangladesh to an advancement of technological and economic heads. This will be done on a five-plus-five year (2021-2025, + 2026-2030) format, where the first five years (2021-2025) will be to lay the foundations for doing something new and different, and the second five years (2026-2030) will be to put in investments and afford them.
It is based on the new generation of bigger and more stable of renewable energy (like wind turbines) being deployed, which can resist the cyclonic wind speeds in the Bay. The first five years will be used to explore the offshore wind energy profile and develop the feasibility of the range, while the second five years will be for bringing the millions of dollars of investment, looking from global private-sector investors.
Theme-3:
The Mujib climate plan refers to the construction of strategic Mujib Energy Hubs, which will ensure the reconversion sources of “unclean-energy” such as coal, oil and diesel thermal power plants to high-tech green hydrogen production facilities. This will reinforce power grid stability, providing clean burning fuels, ensuring the up-skills of workers, and allowing energy sector to capitalize on high-valued exporting products in the form of green hydrogen. This is in the line of IREA’s new 1.5 degree pathways report stating solar and wind power generation, which will provide 68% global electricity demand. Another report of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the Sydney University of Technology, taking into consideration of land constraints, the renewable energy production in Bangladesh can reach 33% by 2030.
Theme-4:
Bangladesh to gear up to access the required millions of dollars of global green investment funds for domestic green energy development programs. As Bangladesh is hopeful about graduating out of the LDC status over the next few years to reach middle-income status faster, and may no longer be eligible for donors’ grants, it needs to access global investments. The plan is also to enhance the capabilities of public-private financial sector, depending on own finances; and also the intellectual inputs and technical support – a way towards the prosperity by 2030.
Theme-5:
To enhance the quality of education and capacity building of the youths, in order to transform them into technical and managerial professionals, not for job seekers. This particular investment does not really need extra funding, but it does require a major shift in the existing narrow type education system, from primary to university and even higher professional levels of education. The paradigm-shift will focus on quality instead of quantity.
Bangladesh and Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF)
As a CVF Chair, the Bangladesh PM pointed out that with the current trend of sea-level rise, most of the island and coastal countries including Bangladesh will go under water making millions of people climate refugees. Realizing this, Bangladesh already declared a “Global Emergency” and called on the world to work “on a war-footing’’ to stop climate change. The CVF Chair urged for effective reduction of carbon emission from the G20 countries which account for 75% of global emissions, and proposed for an international day to be named “Climate Resilience Day” with a view to think for the time to take actions to save the planet is not tomorrow, but today.
Bangladesh proposed the following recommendations in the CVF:
1. To ensure at least 100 billion US dollars a year are available for developing countries for mitigation, adaptation, and disaster response and recovery purposes;
2. Strict implementation of the Paris Agreement is the only way to slow down the current rate of damage caused by climate change;
3. The governments should not only honor their national contributions under the Paris Agreement, they also need to substantially increase their ambitions. The idea of climate justice must be established for the sake of climate and the planet;
4. More vigorous provision of finance must be ensured by the major economies, along with access to technology; and
5. Take bold actions to address and mainstream the issue of loss and damage.
Bangladesh Initiatives for Climate Adaptation
Bangladesh has already launched the South Asian regional office for Global Center of Adaptation in Dhaka in September 2020, act as the Secretariat for CVF Bangladesh presidency and facilitate, support and develop appropriate actions to enhance climate resiliency in the region. Bangladesh has already allocated US$ 430 million from its own resources under Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund since 2009, millions of tree-plantlets are being planted every year across the country, developed saline, flood and drought-resistant crops and floating agriculture technology.
Bangladesh has given emphasis on the “mitigation” and “adaptation” programs for NDC, which are co-exist, for the long-term vision. Bangladesh currently spends US$ 2 billion per year, around 6-7% of its annual budget on climate change adaptation, of which 75% money comes from the government, while the rest comes from international development partners including bilateral, multi-lateral and private funding. It is estimates that the country would need US$ 5.7 billion as adaptation finance by 2050.
Bangladesh is currently implementing the Sustainable Forests and Livelihoods Project (SUFAL) supported by the World Bank, to improve forest management of coastal green belt across 147 Upazilas (sub-districts), while completed projects are: Climate Resilient Ecosystem and Livelihoods; Integrating Community-based Adaptation into Afforestation and Reforestation Program; Climate Resilient Participatory Afforestation and Reforestation Project. These projects helped reduce forest degradation and build the long-term resilience to climate change, and enhancing capacity on planning and implementation of regional DRR, information management system for DRM, enhancing the capacity of CPP volunteers and coastal fisherman to cope with climate change, construction of multipurpose cyclone-shelters and flood-shelter for a comprehensive disaster management program.
Conclusions
The Mujib Climate Plan will be the first of CVF plans, with a strategic investment framework to mobilize financing, especially through international cooperation for implementing renewable energy and climate resilience initiatives. The draft plan identifies several key initiatives, which focus on renewable energy, energy storage infrastructures, power grid modernization, established carbon market regime, Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 resilience promises, training and skills development for future, future-proof Bangladesh’s industries, locally-led adaptation outcomes, micro, small and medium enterprise financial protection and productivity enhancement, climate-resilient and nature-based agricultural and fisheries development, environment friendly transport, climate resilient well-being programs and accelerated digital revolution.
The Mujib Climate Plan would also inter-link with the CVF actions to focus on the goal to keep the global temperature increase up to 1.5 degrees, accelerating financing mechanisms and highlighting the narratives of climate resilience, ‘loss and damage’ issue, and creating a CVF and V20 Joint Multi-Donor Fund. The plan is a blessing for Bangladesh in the birth centenary of the Father of the nation, a new supplementary guideline for its multi-sectoral and sustainable development of the country, and would be a great contribution to the national economy. Bangladesh is expected to accelerate implementation of the existing development plans and programs by the new strategies and themes of Mujib plan. As a result, the plan would help expedite the actions towards achieving the Paris climate goals, explore the possibilities of new pathways for socio-economic development, achieve climate resilience to minimize human casualties and damages from natural disasters; and create more green opportunities to achieve national targets by 2030 and vision 2041.
(Sources: Bangladesh NDC-2021, UNFCCC Report-2021, Saleemul Huq-2021)
Former Additional Secretary (Director)
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC)
Email: makhand14@yahoo.com
