“The time to take action to save the planet is not tomorrow, but today.” — Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as Chair of CVF at CVF leaders’ event at the UNGA, New York on October 7, 2024. “I believe our Presidency’s most important legacy will be to shift the narrative from climate vulnerability to resilience and prosperity. In Bangladesh, we are …
Bangladesh’s leadership of the Climate Vulnerable Forum
What Bangladesh can do before COP29
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 …
Tribute To Prof Saleemul Huq: A towering scholar of exceptional brilliance
The fact that he was one of the leading global experts on climate change and an integral part of nearly every international and regional group of any worth anywhere is something one would never know by talking to him. He was as modest as he was brilliant. He was extremely self-effacing and shy to the extent of being, some would …
The Climate Action Summit in New York has failed to deliver
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guitterez, has been holding an annual Climate Action Summit on the margins of the UN General Assembly in September each year. He invites world leaders to come and share what they are doing to tackle climate change, the biggest human-induced global crisis. Over the years, his language to describe the situation has become …
We are not on track for 2030 climate targets
Back in 2015, three essential global agreements were adopted with targets set in 2030. We are at the halfway point of this time frame; if we review the current situation, the progress is not good. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change was adopted at the 21st UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in December 2015. Two main commitments were agreed upon: …
In funding climate actions, we can be more creative
A simple $5 loss and damage aviation levy could be imposed on every passenger flying on any of the airlines under the jurisdiction of the UAE. There are only a hundred days left until the start of COP28 in Dubai, set to be held on November 30, and already the world has crossed the critical threshold into what I call …
Our world has entered its hottest days. What now?
Over the last few months, I have been saying at different meetings that 2023 will see the beginning of the era of losses and damages from human-induced climate change. I have also been saying that every new day, week, month, and year will bring more climate change impacts, and no country is prepared for what is to come. It was …
Key takeaways from the Paris summit on climate finance
Recently, I had the privilege of being invited to the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact, hosted by President Emmanuel Macron of France, alongside over 20 heads of government. Bangladesh was represented by Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Climate Envoy Saber Hossain Chowdhury. I was invited to speak at three events during the summit. The first was an …
Making a university great, with climate action
Today’s column is in response to the thought-provoking series of articles in The Daily Star on “What makes a great university” by Dr Syed Saad Andaleeb, Dr Ahrar Ahmad, and Dr Halimur R Khan. I would suggest not changing the entire university sector in Bangladesh, but rather to develop a world-leading effort in research and teaching to tackle climate change – not …
Time to make climate funds part of mainstream finance
The problem of global climate change has already gone through two eras and has now entered the third era. The first was the era of mitigation; the second was the era of adaptation; and now we are in the era of loss and damage from human-induced climate change. Mitigation and adaptation are still prevalent issues, and now we have to …
