Bangladesh a global inspiration for leading green garment factories: US body

Bangladesh has turned into a major source of inspiration globally as it's currently a leader in the green garment factories worldwide, said a top official of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).

"Bangladesh's achievement in the green building segment is not only well discussed in Southeast Asia and South Asia, but also well discussed western world," Santanu Dutta Gupta, faculty and associate director of USGBC, the certification authority of the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED).

He was handing over the certification at an event in the capital today to Bangladeshi garment factory SM Sourcing Ltd, which climbed to the top of the global Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Factory ranking, achieving a score of 106 out of a possible 110.

"Bangladesh's achievements in the green building segment are not only well discussed in Southeast Asia and South Asia but also in the western world," Gupta said while handing over the certificate to SM Sourcing.

SM Sourcing, located in Gazipur, was formed in 2013. Mirza Shams Mahmud Shakti, the company's chief executive officer, started the company with a buying house and in 2017, he started setting up a factory, Gupta mentioned.

He further said the SM Sourcing CEO now has three projects and employs 5,000 workers, 900 of whom work at the SM Sourcing.

The monthly turnover of his company is $6 million and annually $70-$72 million, Gupta said, adding that SM Sourcing also has a customers' base in the USA and Europe.

Gupta remarked that Shakti transformed his factory into a green factory for the betterment of the workers.

With Bangladesh becoming the global champion in green garment factories, global buyers are now placing high volumes of work orders in Bangladesh, shifting from other countries, he noted.

Ananta Ahmed, International Green Building Expert, USGBC Faculty and the Principal LEED Consultant of 360 TSL, said, "The LEED is not just a certificate. It is the most effective business management system if we understand and follow. Benefits are very high and should not be ignored.

"If we understand LEED Green Building concepts in a factual way, cost is not an issue, and if we analyse the costs and benefits in a meaningful way, we will find that LEED green building costs are lower than those of regular buildings," he added.

Bangladesh currently has 209 green factories. Of them, 79 are platinum, 116 gold, 10 silver and the rest are only green certified.

Not only in number, but also the world's highest rated green building S M Sourcing with 106 out of 110 points, is also located in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is also the leader in green garment factories as there are 54 out of the top 100 green and 18 of the top 20 LEED green factories are located in the country.