UNB, Dhaka :
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Thursday urged the government to play its due role in the upcoming Conference of Parties 21 (COP-21) to push global leaders for signing a legally-binding agreement to keep the global temperature rise bellow 2 degrees from the baseline of pre-industrial period.
It also called for defining ‘climate financing’ in the upcoming Paris agreement saying that additional and new grants to be provided by carbon-emitting countries, excluding development assistance, and that must be considered as climate financing, not any loan.
The TIB came up with its demands at a press conference held at its office in the capital ahead of global climate meet scheduled to begin on November 30 next in Paris.
TIB senior programme officer (climate financing governance) made a power-point presentation on its position paper on transparency and accountability of global climate financing. TIB executive director Dr Iftekharuzzaman and its deputy executive director Prof Dr Somaiya Khair were present at the press conference.
According to the TIB position paper, the data released by United Nations Environmental
Programme (Unep) in 2014 show that at least $ 150 billion will require a year globally to carry out adaptation programmes to cope with climate change impacts.
But in really, the industrial countries released only $ 2.6 billion as of September 2015 against their promise of $ 30 billion, which is only 7.5 percent of their total commitment. If the COP 21 fails to reach any legally-binding agreement to cut carbon emission, climate funds committed by industrial countries will see a deficit. In such situation, it will be quite impossible task to carry out adaptation programmes by vulnerable countries like Bangladesh, the paper said.
Dr Iftekharuzzaman said keeping global temperature rise bellow 2 degrees is a much-talked-about issue and a legally-binding agreement should be signed in Paris climate meet to do so. Otherwise, climate vulnerable countries like Bangladesh will have to suffer a lot, he added.
“The developed countries, which are historically responsible to global temperature rise, were committed to providing additional and new fund to climate vulnerable countries, but they’re yet to come up to fulfill their promise. We’re calling upon the government to raise the two issues in upcoming Paris climate meet,” he said.
Bangladesh will require about $ 40 billion to implement adaptation programmes during 2015-2030. The position paper says Bangladesh released only $ 1.07 billion to carry adaptation programmes in the last six years (2010-August 2015).
Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF) approved 236 projects in the last six years. Of them, some 84 projects have so far been completed. Some 85 projects were scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2009 but these projects have seen only 20 percent progress till date.
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Thursday urged the government to play its due role in the upcoming Conference of Parties 21 (COP-21) to push global leaders for signing a legally-binding agreement to keep the global temperature rise bellow 2 degrees from the baseline of pre-industrial period.
It also called for defining ‘climate financing’ in the upcoming Paris agreement saying that additional and new grants to be provided by carbon-emitting countries, excluding development assistance, and that must be considered as climate financing, not any loan.
The TIB came up with its demands at a press conference held at its office in the capital ahead of global climate meet scheduled to begin on November 30 next in Paris.
TIB senior programme officer (climate financing governance) made a power-point presentation on its position paper on transparency and accountability of global climate financing. TIB executive director Dr Iftekharuzzaman and its deputy executive director Prof Dr Somaiya Khair were present at the press conference.
According to the TIB position paper, the data released by United Nations Environmental
Programme (Unep) in 2014 show that at least $ 150 billion will require a year globally to carry out adaptation programmes to cope with climate change impacts.
But in really, the industrial countries released only $ 2.6 billion as of September 2015 against their promise of $ 30 billion, which is only 7.5 percent of their total commitment. If the COP 21 fails to reach any legally-binding agreement to cut carbon emission, climate funds committed by industrial countries will see a deficit. In such situation, it will be quite impossible task to carry out adaptation programmes by vulnerable countries like Bangladesh, the paper said.
Dr Iftekharuzzaman said keeping global temperature rise bellow 2 degrees is a much-talked-about issue and a legally-binding agreement should be signed in Paris climate meet to do so. Otherwise, climate vulnerable countries like Bangladesh will have to suffer a lot, he added.
“The developed countries, which are historically responsible to global temperature rise, were committed to providing additional and new fund to climate vulnerable countries, but they’re yet to come up to fulfill their promise. We’re calling upon the government to raise the two issues in upcoming Paris climate meet,” he said.
Bangladesh will require about $ 40 billion to implement adaptation programmes during 2015-2030. The position paper says Bangladesh released only $ 1.07 billion to carry adaptation programmes in the last six years (2010-August 2015).
Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF) approved 236 projects in the last six years. Of them, some 84 projects have so far been completed. Some 85 projects were scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2009 but these projects have seen only 20 percent progress till date.
