Green growth key to Bangladesh’s upper-middle-income vision: WB’s country director

Green growth can help Bangladesh build long-term resilience against climate risks while helping to attain its vision of becoming an upper-middle-income country, said Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.

"As the intensity and frequency of natural disasters increase, Bangladesh must do more to tackle the environment and climate risks, and sustain its strong growth performance," he said during a two-day conference titled "Toward Faster, Cleaner Growth" organised by the Brac Institute of Governance and Development and the World Bank.

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During the conference, Planning Minister MA Mannan said, "Bangladesh has made some impressive progress in green development. For example, our garment sector ranks among the world's best in terms of the number of green factories."

The minister also said that the government is taking various plans and programs to address climate change, adding that they are more committed to saving nature. 

According to a World Bank report, Bangladesh's financial loss is about $1 billion a year due to cyclones alone. And 13 million people could be homeless by 2050 due to climate change. The World Bank estimates that Bangladesh needs an annual investment of $12.5 billion to avoid climate change damage.

Despite solid growth, South Asia faces a risky outlook, says the World Bank in its latest regional economic update, urging countries to fully capitalise on the global energy transition to help boost growth.

Improvements in energy efficiency could accelerate progress toward both economic and environmental goals in South Asia, reads a press release.

The region uses twice as much energy as the global average to produce each unit of output. While South Asian firms are enthusiastic adopters of basic energy-efficient technologies, they lag in the adoption of more advanced technologies.

"In South Asia, given the salience of our population and demographics, the green growth agenda is not only a topic of central importance, but also a place to foster central innovation, and that's what we are looking forward to. The green growth agenda cannot be advanced without really thinking about how it delivers on growth and the importance of interdisciplinary approach is key to understanding green growth," said Imran Matin, executive director of BRAC Institute of Governance and Development.

According to the World Bank report, South Asian countries are facing various challenges. Some of these countries are limited by slow growth and financial crisis. Financial support is important to help these countries' economies adapt to the global energy transition.