Bangladesh will seek immediate formation and release of the $100 billion climate fund in the upcoming UN Climate Conference, dubbed as COP26.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to start the journey for Glasgow to join the COP26 on October 31, along with a high-level delegation.
Commenting on Bangladesh’s position in the Glasgow conference, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, who will accompany the prime minister during the visit, said the country will place four demands in the COP26.
“We will seek the formation of the $100 billion climate fund, which was promised by the rich nations in 2015. And will ask them to release 50 per cent of the fund for adaptation purpose” he told the FE.
Referring to the role of the rich countries in addressing the challenges of climate change, the minister noted that the big countries talk big but in practice they do nothing.
“They made the promise to create the 100-billion-dollar fund for supporting the climate victims in 2015, but they had failed to deliver.”
Bangladesh will also call upon to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The third demand of Bangladesh will be to share the cost of the rehabilitation of the climate change victims.
“Every year we have to lose 2 per cent of our GDP, which is over 5 billion US dollars, to rehabilitate people, who became the victim of the adverse effect of climate change like river erosion, over flooding, drought.”
“In future, the rehabilitation cost will increase to $9 billion,” the minister said explaining the demand.
“So, we want that the rich countries who are responsible for the climate change should bear the burden of this rehabilitation cost,” the minister noted.
Bangladesh will place a demand for technology transfer for building renewable energy from the rich countries, he added.
Bangladesh, which is one of the worst victims of climate change emits only 0.35 per cent carbon while rich countries are responsible for 80 per cent of carbon emission.
Recently, Abul Kalam Azad, the government's special envoy to the Climate Vulnerable Forum, said, with support from the international community and domestic resources Bangladesh can turn itself into a prosperous country by successfully addressing the challenges of climate change.
Bangladesh’s GDP has increased from $6.2 billion in 1972 to $305 billion and many forecasts that by 2030 it will be doubled.
But the adverse impact of climate change can be a major threat to this goal.
Bangladesh is the President of the Climate Vulnerable Forum and has been playing a leading role in climate diplomacy.
