This year’s climate summit—the 28th Conference of the Parties for climate change (COP28)—started with a surprise on the very first day: the operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund, where the COP28 presidency pioneered a pledge of $100 million. By the end of the event, the pledges totalled almost $700 million. Though this amount is paltry compared to what is needed …
Taxing air travel could fund climate victims
Last year, the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) for climate change agreed to establish a loss and damage (L&D) finance facility to support the recovery from loss and damage caused by the increasing impacts of climate change. The decision to establish an L&D fund can be regarded as just a political win; it is not a climate win yet. …
Why climate needs to be a part of higher education
In order to equip the future generations with the skills to deal with climate change, the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) has a target – Target 4.7 – that requires that, by 2030, all learners will acquire the knowledge and skills through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyle, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace …
Loss and damage must be defined on moral grounds
Among the three strategies for addressing climate change – mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage (L&D) – the latter two continue to suffer from interpretational ambiguities. Adaptation does not have an agreed definition under the climate regime. Loss and damage is not yet considered as a third strategy by developed countries. But developing countries don’t agree. Under the Paris Agreement, …
Building back a greener Bangladesh
The title of this article has been borrowed from an on-line discussion organised by the Policy Research Institute on June 20, 2021. I was a panelist at the event, which some current and former World Bank officials had participated in, together with most of the famous environmental experts of Bangladesh. With its physical and socio-economic parameters, Bangladesh can be …
‘Adaptation swap can be an effective instrument if designed well’
Leading climate policy expert Mizan R Khan talks about the G7 summit and its relations to climate change action This year’s G7 summit is scheduled to begin tomorrow, where the leaders of the G7 countries will meet to discuss important policies. Climate change will be among the topics these economic superpower will discuss and take decisions on. For Bangladesh, and …
Bangladesh in 2050: Vision of a climate resilient society
What will Bangladesh look like in 2050? A layman’s projection allows us to draw a picture of its basic parameters. In terms of population, Bangladesh can reach a number of 230-240 million, with an average growth rate of 1.2 percent/year. The density of population will be around 1700/sq.km, the highest ever in the world. Considering a consistent economic growth rate …
Vaccine nationalism, global public good and the poor
In a desperate move to inoculate from Covid-19, we are witnessing a kind of vaccine nationalism worldwide, which has manifested in a race to procure vaccine doses, particularly by those having the means and power to do so. The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) called this situation a “catastrophic moral failure” in sharing Covid vaccines. He …