Bangladeshi CSOs at the ongoing COP29 in Baku of Azerbaijan demanded for fossil fuel phase out, revision of the current power master plan, adequate and sustainable climate finance and a rapid transition to renewable energy.
WaterKeepers Bangladesh, YouthNet, Friends of the Earth, 350.org, Don’t Gas Asia and others raised the demand.
They voiced the immediate phase of fossil fuels-based false solutions in Bangladesh’s energy master plan, and called for real climate actions emphasizing grant-based climate finance to avoid the crippling debt traps and also to address the country’s escalating climate vulnerabilities. Bangladeshi CSOs assert that the climate crisis, exacerbated by fossil fuel reliance, demands bold action now from the COP 29 leaders. Sharif Jamil, Coordinator of Waterkeepers Bangladesh said, "There are ammonia co-firing and hydrogen based solutions proposed in Bangladesh's energy master plan or the Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan (IEPMP).
We are urging the government that they must review the IEPMP and they shouldn't focus on the gas expansion, instead they should focus on renewable energy expansion to protect Bangladesh's economy, ecology and people.”
Sohanur Rahman, Executive Coordinator of Youth Net for Climate Justice said, "In Bangladesh, we have fossil fuels-powered Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan (IEPMP). It’s now high time to revise this and deploy a people-oriented energy master plan that will protect our climate and economy.
The current energy master plan or IEPMP isn’t very ambitious, and it has some loopholes like the carbon capture and hydrogen-based technologies that have been proposed. These are false solutions, barriers for just energy energy transitions. So we are urging Bangladesh to come up with a new, revised IEPMP.”
Amanullah Porag, South Asia mobilizations coordinator at 350.org emphasized on renewable energy-based transition, he said, “Bangladesh needs to directly shift from fossil fuel to renewables. We need to phase out fossil fuels such as coal and LNG because it is expensive. Gas is giving us debt, economic instability, climate loans, climate crisis. Bangladesh’s power master plan is heavily backed by Japan and does not support energy transition, rather it locks us into expensive imported fossil fuels and false solutions in the name of advanced technologies.”
