Bangladeshi CSOs raised their voices at the COP29 in Baku Olympic Stadium, Azerbaijan.

The group urgently demanded fossil fuel phase out, revision of the current power master plan, adequate and sustainable climate finance, and a rapid transition to renewable energy.

The demonstration was undertaken through a joint multinational coalition of voices led by WaterKeepers Bangladesh, Youth Net, Friends of the Earth, 350.org, Don’t Gas Asia and more.

They called for real climate actions emphasizing grant-based climate finance to avoid the crippling debt traps and also to address the country’s escalating climate vulnerabilities. Bangladeshi CSOs asserted that the climate crisis, exacerbated by fossil fuel reliance, demands bold action now from the COP 29 leaders.

Sharif Jamil, Coordinator of Waterkeepers Bangladesh said, "There are ammonia co-firing and hydrogen based solutions proposed in Bangladesh's energy master plan or the Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan (IEPMP). We are urging the government that they must review the IEPMP and they shouldn't focus on the gas expansion, instead they should focus on renewable energy expansion to protect Bangladesh's economy, ecology and people.”

Sohanur Rahman, Executive Coordinator of Youth Net for Climate Justice said, "In Bangladesh, we have fossil fuels-powered Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan (IEPMP). It’s now high time to revise this and deploy a people-oriented energy master plan that will protect our climate and economy. The current energy master plan or IEPMP isn’t very ambitious, and it has some loopholes like the carbon capture and hydrogen-based technologies that have been proposed. These are false solutions, barriers for just energy transitions. So we are urging Bangladesh to come up with a new, revised IEPMP.”

Amanullah Porag, South Asia mobilizations coordinator at 350.org emphasized on renewable energy-based transition. He said, “Bangladesh needs to directly shift from fossil fuel to renewables. We need to phase out fossil fuels such as coal and LNG because it is expensive. Gas is giving us debt, economic instability, climate loans, climate crisis.”