Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Md. Shahab Uddin, who is leading the Bangladesh delegation at the COP28 conference in Dubai, said despite having limited resources, Bangladesh is pursuing a low carbon development path with increasing emphasis on renewable energy, energy efficiency and energy conservation.
"Bangladesh is the 7th most vulnerable country in the world when it comes to the adverse effects of climate change," he said, setting out the challenges he country faces. "However, Bangladesh strives hard for shifting the country’s vulnerability towards resilience under the able and visionary leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina."
The Environment, Forest and Climate Change delivered the statement on behalf of Bangladesh at the High Level Segment of COP28.
"We have established Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund, a dedicated national financing mechanism back in 2009 from our own limited resources. So far, we have allocated $490 million that supports more than 850 projects. Additionally, as part of our Annual Development Programme, the government is spending more than $3 billion on climate related actions," said Shahab Uddin.
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Last year, Bangladesh submitted the National Adaptation Plan to the UNFCCC. The NAP identified 113 interventions for 8 vulnerable sectors, with a timeframe of 2023 to 2050. To implement those priority interventions, $230 billion will be required, or per year about $8.5 billion. This means there will be a financing gap of around $5.5 billion each year for the NAP implementation.
In 2021, Bangladesh updated its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) with a three-times enhanced emission reduction target compared to the previous NDC from 2015, said the minister.
"Recently published scientific reports show that we are heading in the wrong direction. The ambition of emission reduction pledges for 2030 need to be seven times higher to keep the 1.5 degree goal of the Paris Agreement," Shahab Uddin reminded the delegates from the world over.
He said at COP28, progress would be essential in the following areas:
"We must keep the 1.5 degree goal alive for our survival. Even a temporary overshoot of the 1.5 degree threshold leads to additional permanent losses, beyond adaptation limits. We need concrete political commitments by the major emitters for addressing the emission gap.
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"The first Global Stocktake must deliver increased ambition and action in line with the 1.5 degree goal, with concrete milestones to assess progress against outcomes.
"Mobilize enough financial resources, preferably from public sources to the most vulnerable developing countries – LDCs and SIDS - to support the implementation of their NAP and NDCs. Developed countries must deliver on the COP 26 call to double adaptation finance by 2025 from 2019 level.
"Developed countries must deliver USD 100 billion per year as per their historic commitment. The post 2025 finance under the New Collective Quantified Goals on Climate Finance must be significantly higher than the current commitment considering the increasing needs of the most vulnerable and with a clear roadmap for realization."
The minister urged the heads of governments and representatives to implement the decisions of the Paris Agreement to fight against the extreme threats of Climate Change and make the world a safer and better place for our future generation.
He also expressed his sincere thanks to the Government and people of the United Arab Emirates and the COP 28 Presidency for creating history by adopting the decision on Loss and Damage Fund on the very first day of the opening of COP 28.
The 2023 World Climate Conference (COP28) began in Dubai on November 30 and will continue till 12 December 2023. Heads of governments and representatives of 198 countries participated in the 13-day conference.