| Project Detail |
Project Name
Operationalizing the Bangladesh Climate Development Partnership
Project Number
58271-001
Country / Economy
Bangladesh
Project Status
Approved
Project Type / Modality of Assistance
Technical Assistance
The Government of Bangladesh (GOB) has recently launched the Bangladesh Climate and Development Partnership to drive climate actions at scale and with urgency. The BCDP is an example of country-led climate platform established to scale up implementation of climate actions and is being recognized as an important modality by the global community to deliver climate actions at scale. The TA will help the Government of Bangladesh to operationalize the BCDP as a cross-sectoral, multiyear climate action partnership, especially in setting up the BCDP structure, which includes the BCDP Coordination Board and the four Working Groups, responsible for enhancing partnership in mobilizing climate finance, accelerating policy reforms, improving capacity in developing innovative climate projects, and facilitate knowledge sharing.
Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy
Climate change challenges: Recent climate-related events in Bangladesh (record floods in Sylhet & Chattogram regions and heat stress in Dhaka) as well as around the world have again vividly displayed the increasing impacts of climate change. The impacts now unfold at a faster pace and on a larger scale than anticipated. Bangladesh faces serious climate challenges because of its location in a river delta with low-lying flood plains. As per the Global Climate Risk Index 2021, Bangladesh ranked seventh extreme disaster risk-prone country in the world. The annual loss of gross domestic project (GDP) may rise by 2 % by 2050 due to climate-induced disasters and over 9 percent by 2100 under extreme scenarios.
Changing rainfall and water-flow patterns, together with high population density, rapid urbanization, and high reliance on weather-sensitive livelihoods (agriculture) are affecting urban and rural livelihoods, public health, and food security. Estimates show that by 2050, Bangladesh could lose 2.0% of annual gross domestic product (GDP) from damage caused by riverine flooding and decreased agriculture and worker productivity, and as much as 9.0% from several flooding under a business-as-usual scenario. The lives, livelihoods, and well-being of poor people and women, however, are affected disproportionately by these climate-related events. With these challenges, GOB sees the need to look at future development from a climate angle and strengthen partnerships in achieving greener, resilient, and sustainable growth.
Large climate finance need: Recognizing that the country is facing the compounded risks of climate change, the GOB has formulated long-term plans, including the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) 2023-2050, the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 (BDP2100) and the updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). The financing needs to implement these plans are large, $230 billion for adaptation by 2050 and $176 billion for mitigation by 2030. Effective mobilization of climate finance from both domestic and external, as well as from the private sector will be critical. To date, climate financing from external sources to Bangladesh is yet to come in size despite significant global commitment. The private sector is still in the early stage of engagement, especially in climate adaptation. Increased domestic resource mobilization will be essential to increase fiscal space for climate finance, as well as for other development priorities, such as human resources development.
Weak institutional capacity: To achieve the long-term vision for achieving green and climate-resilient development under the BDP2100, MCPP, and the NAP, the GOB is in the process of improving the policy environment and strengthening institutions. These include instituting a whole government approach to address the climate challenge, promoting rules of business for ministries to integrate national climate visions and strategies into their respective mandates and operations; strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems to track climate outcomes; improving the capacity of local institutions; and promoting gender equality and social inclusion in climate actions. Early implementation of these plans has revealed gaps in several areas, including in institutional coordination, policy coherence, project development capacity, financing mobilization, and monitoring of the outcome of climate actions.
It is in this context, that the TA aims to support the Government of Bangladesh address these critical constraints by operationalizing the implementation of the BCDP which will enable a whole-of-government approach in pursuing strategic, high-priority, and targeted inclusive climate actions at the national and subnational level, in line with the priorities identified in the NAP, BDP 2100, MCPP, and Updated NDC. The BCDP will support bridging the gap between planning and implementation of climate actions through the development of project pipelines, mobilizing climate finance, and strengthening systems to monitor and evaluate climate outcomes. This TA is aligned with the Paris Agreements climate goals and ADBs country partnership strategy for Bangladesh, 2021-2025. The TA will establish synergies with ongoing operations, including climate PBL and other TAs on climate actions. It will be interconnected with other knowledge products such as the Climate Risk portal, data, and information. |
