Bangladesh is a founding member of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) and since 2012 has been strategically reducing short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) with tools ranging from green technology investment for brick kilns to climate finance funds that will help spark the transition to the country’s green future.
“Becoming a founding member of the CCAC meant that SLCP reduction activities received more recognition, and activities could be scaled up,” said Dr. Sultan Ahmed, the then Director of the Department of Environment of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
In 2018, the Ministry endorsed one of its most significant commitments to climate and clean air yet. The sweeping National Action Plan for Reducing Short-Lived Climate Pollutants includes 11 priority measures in six different sectors, including transportation, household energy, fossil fuel production and transport, waste management, and agriculture and livestock. Fully implementing these measures—which include things like clean biomass stoves, updating traditional brick kilns, and eliminating high emitting road transport vehicles—would reduce black carbon emissions by 72 percent by 2040 and methane by 37 percent.
Bangladesh has already taken charge of its freight sector, advancing the country’s green freight through enterprising national legislation such as the National Multimodal Transport Policy. It is also an endorser of the CCAC’s Global Green Freight Action Plan. This is especially critical work given that by 2050 developing countries in Asia are expected to account for over half of the total global surface freight transport.
The Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has been working since 2014 to implement the CCAC’s Agriculture Initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from rice production in Bangladesh by using Alternate Wetting and Drying, a strategy that can cut emissions in half.
In 2013, as part of the CCAC’s Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) Initiative, Coalition partners approved funding to develop an initial HFC inventory in Bangladesh. This produced a report on current emissions, projections of growth patterns, and identified opportunities and challenges for transitioning to more climate-friendly alternative appliances.
Brick kilns have been another strategic intervention for the country—and an important one given that they are one of the largest stationary sources of black carbon. Along with iron and steel production, they contribute 20 percent of total black carbon emissions. In 2017, Bangladesh published the National Strategy for Sustainable Brick Production recommending policies for sustainable brick manufacturing that would address the industry’s major social and economic issues, the policy gaps blocking mitigation, and priority areas of action. In 2020, the Europen Union funded SWITCH-Asia ‘Promoting Sustainable Building in Bangladesh’ which cuts air pollution and energy use from traditional brick kilns and reduces overall construction costs.
Bangladesh is one of the countries on the frontlines of climate change, with catastrophic flooding and cyclones already threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions of citizens. This makes Bangladesh’s commitment to SLCP mitigation even more significant because their short atmospheric lifespan means their reduction will have rapid effects, helping to flatten the curve of climate change.
Keep reading below for more highlights of Bangladesh’s work.
Air Pollution
Agriculture
Energy
Transportation
Energy Efficiency
Bricks
Climate Finance
Brick production is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases (GHG) and short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) in Bangladesh. The informal brick sector is the main contributor of this...
There is an urgent need for national strategies and policy actions for cleaner and sustainable brick production in Bangladesh.
The overall objective of this initiative is to prepare...
An emissions model for HFCs in Bangladesh based on the information and materials generated in an earlier country review of HFC consumption supported by the CCAC.
Livestock manures, the undigested and excreted biomass of feeds and fodders fed to farm animals and poultry, from conventional management systems, are traditionally considered as waste. This waste...
This factsheet provides information on the National Planning Process on SLCPs in Bangladesh and how this process is helping to unlock action at scale.
Source: CCAC Annual Report 2015
This an Opportunity for Practice Change factsheet from Bangladesh on the Development of National Policy and Action Plan for Integrated Manure Management in Livestock Systems.
The Government of Bangladesh's Vision is to eradicate poverty and achieve economic and socialwell-being for all the people. This will be achieved through a pro-poor Climate Change Strategy, which...
Bangladesh is going to celebrate its 50 years of independence in the year 2021. The objective of preparing Bangladesh Vision 2021 is to try to present a framework of a future...
