At a dialogue in the city this week, climate change experts called upon the South Asian governments to take concerted action to use the global climate funds on an urgent basis for the affected people and ensure transparency and accountability in the process.
The South Asian countries are the most vulnerable region for climate change. These nations should adjust projects under climate financing with their development plans to meet the diversified needs of affected communities.
The Climate Risk Index-2017 ranked Bangladesh and two other South Asian countries among 10 most vulnerable countries for weather-related disasters such as storms, floods and heat wave. For that reason, the Target 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) calls for strengthening resilience and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation and adaptation through effective integration of measures to combat climate change into national policies, planning and strategies.
Climate change is, by far, the most serious challenge the world is now confronting. The human impact on our planet is unprecedented. Long-term changes in the earth's climate system are significant. In order to meet such challenge, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) was established with a mission to advance the goal of keeping the temperature increase on our home planet below two degrees Celsius.
The Fund is a unique global initiative to respond to climate change by investing into low-emission and climate-resilient development. GCF was set up by 194 governments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries, and to help adapt vulnerable societies to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
Given the urgency and seriousness of the challenge, the Fund is mandated to make an ambitious contribution to the united global response to climate change. The US$ 100 billion Fund was designed to help the world nations combat climate change impacts by 2020.
A study showed that at least US$ 12 trillion is needed to keep the average temperature rise below 2.0 degrees. According to a report, the annual adaptation cost in the energy sector in Bangladesh could be $ 89.3 million by 2030 and that is exactly where opportunities are embedded.
The country needs to work with financial institutions for better private sector investments with higher impact. This can be achieved through risk management instruments with high leverage green energy bonds that focus on renewable energies.
The young people need to develop awareness about the risks of climate impacts while connecting personal experiences to their everyday motivation. Students should study to broaden knowledge and work for various organisations that address climate change. They can learn about ethical green investments, mitigation and adaptation activities, and liaison with people working in the US, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK to both receive and extend assistance.
There are, however, multiple arguments for such funding. One is a matter of fairness: The largest polluters by far are the developed nations like the United States. There are other polluters too. Fast-growing countries like India are building the next generation power plants and the Paris Agreement won't work unless they decide to forgo dirtier forms of energy like coal.
In fact, the goal of the funding is to help nudge developing countries towards cleaner energy like wind and solar instead. If it succeeds in lowering emissions and preventing a major temperature increase, the United States will be highly benefited. And by helping countries that are especially vulnerable prepare for the effects of climate change, it could prevent or minimise future refugee crises that could destabilise regions and spill over into the developed world.
An Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) analysis in 2016 predicted pledges worldwide would add up to $67 billion per year by 2020 - a major step towards the target. But many countries have complained such estimates have been grossly inflated by items like private loans to buy green technology from developed nations that are closer to ordinary business transactions than foreign aid.
All said and done, Bangladesh should frame a policy similar to UK's Climate Change Act, 2008 to reduce carbon emissions. In order to meet the SDG 13 and Paris Agreement in the context of good governance in climate finance, the country should explore potential scopes for mitigation of climate change.
Knowledge and best practices in climate finance governance should, therefore, be shared among the affected nations. Bangladesh Youth Environmental Initiative can be a starting-point for individuals to network with people who share a common passion.
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