Non-availability of Bangladesh from COP-28

The 'Conference of the Parties' or COP-28, a global summit on climate change under the United Nations, concluded in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on December 12. The major achievement of the conference was the finalization of the climate damage fund. During the 12-day conference, a significant achievement of the summit was the commitment of 70 crore US dollars from various sources for the fund. According to experts, a country like Bangladesh will not have much difficulty in getting this money from the climate damage fund.

The COP-28 conference was the largest UN climate conference ever. More than 70 thousand representatives, experts, journalists and rights activists from 198 countries and regions of the world have joined this conference. Since 1992, no COP conference has witnessed such a massive turnout. The previous year's conference in Egypt had around 50,000 participants. In this year's conference, participants included Bill Gates, Antony Arnault (son of LVMH's Bernard Arnault), Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world. Additionally, more than 14,000 representatives from various private organizations also took part.

From this year's COP summit, if Bangladesh can secure something, it is the commitment of 70 crore US dollars to the Loss and Damage Fund after its formation. The term "Loss and Damage" implies the countries that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, particularly those affected by climate crises. The United Nations explains it as follows: "It may include the loss of lives and livelihoods, as well as the extremes of weather events associated with climate change." However, events such as the rise in sea levels, increasing temperatures, ocean acidification, glacier melting and retreat, and their associated impacts, salinity intrusion, land and forest degradation, biodiversity loss, and the slow-moving incidents of desertification can also be encompassed. On the other hand, the global goal under the Adaptation Goal of the Paris Agreement, as per Article 7.1, is a collective commitment aiming at "enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience, and reducing vulnerability to climate change worldwide."

In the COP-28 summit, representatives of the relevant countries have established a fund to address the challenges and damages faced by nations due to global climate change. Although the specific amounts of contributions from each country have not been specified, several nations have made commitments to contribute to this fund. Among them, the host countries of COP-28, the UAE and Germany, have pledged 10 crore and UK 5 crore and 10 lakh US dollars, respectively. Additionally, the United States has committed $1.75 billion, and Japan has committed $1 billion.

Furthermore, an evaluation of the Paris Agreement's progress has also been undertaken during this year's summit. During the COP-21 summit, nations collectively expressed consensus on regulating the increase in global temperature to control the impacts of climate change in the 21st century.

The Paris Agreement was signed by 195 countries and regions. The central objective of this agreement was that global warming should be kept within 2 degrees Celsius in the current century. If possible it should be kept at 1.5 degrees. According to the agreement, signatory countries pledge to reduce carbon dioxide-emitting fuels and greenhouse gas-emitting activities, such as coal, gas and oil, in order to control warming. As per the agreement, signatory nations committed to progressively reduce their carbon emissions, aiming for net-zero emissions by the year 2050. The familiar term for this outlined trajectory, known as the NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions), suggests a periodic revision every five years. The Dubai Climate Conference could be acknowledged as a significant evaluation of the Paris Agreement on an enhanced basis.

In the COP-28 summit, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced the creation of a new private investment fund totaling $30 billion. Primarily, this declaration aims to boost the financial flow in climate-focused projects in developing countries worldwide. The fund, named 'Altera,' was unveiled on the second day of the conference in the United Arab Emirates. Notably, this fund is set to become the world's largest private investment fund dedicated to tackling the impacts of climate change.

In the COP-28 summit, Bangladesh has emphasized that developing countries like itself should not be required to contribute funds to the Loss and Damage Fund from sources other than climate finance. Bangladesh has urged global stakeholders to be cautious in this regard. Simultaneously, in accordance with the Paris Agreement, Bangladesh has echoed the call to limit the global temperature increase to no more than one and a half degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels within this century.

Farah Kabir, country director of ActionAid Bangladesh, said at a press conference regarding the COP-28 summit, "In this year's summit, Germany has pledged a commitment of $100 million to the Adaptation Fund. While the United States has announced a promise of only $17.5 million for the Climate Fund to assist Israel, expectations were initially set for a much larger contribution, around a trillion dollars. Therefore, collectively, Bangladesh may receive around $200 million from this fund. However, expectations were set for a trillion dollars because the annual commitment of $100 billion in aid to Bangladesh is now turning into millions. Therefore, it is not expected to receive much assistance from the Adaptation Fund. Additionally, how much funding will be available from these funds is also a crucial matter. Obtaining funds from the Adaptation Fund and the Green Climate Fund is very challenging. Only two organizations in Bangladesh are accredited for this - Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) and Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL). Together, they have received around 10 to 20 million dollars. So, despite our hopes, the benefits may not be substantial.

Ziaul Haque, one of the members of the Bangladesh delegation at COP-28 and the Director-General of the Department of Environment, said "Multilateral institutions such as the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and IMF are aware of Bangladesh's situation because Bangladesh is already grappling with severe crises. This year, Bangladesh has experienced the hottest days ever recorded. Within a year, the country has been hit by four cyclones until December. ADB, IMF, and World Bank are working to create a special fund of $5 billion for Bangladesh."

He added that, "In the conference, there has been a renewed call from Bangladesh to allocate funds for climate damage in the climate fund. Bangladesh emphasizes ensuring that it can easily access and receive allocations through projects from the fund."

The abbreviation "COP" stands for 'Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change'—commonly known as COP. The global climate conference is primarily referred to as COP. The first instance of this conference took place in Berlin, Germany, in 1995. Countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1992 participated in the conference. In that conference, some countries committed to controlling greenhouse gas emissions for the first time. In the continuous progression, the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015. In this multinational international agreement, signatory states are obligated to take measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.