Govt officials unclear about emissions cut
Though the South Asia countries have pledged to reduce the emission of green house gases, the government officials in these countries do not have a clear concept on how to reduce it, finds a survey of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).
The survey was carried out among government officials, academics, and private sector representatives. It reveals that the government officials are less aware about the governments' pledges on reducing emissions than private sector players.
At a press conference at its office in the capital yesterday, TIB shared the findings of the study titled "Unbundling Pledges, Actions of INDCs and Measuring Public Perceptions - A Methodological Study: The Case of South Asian Countries".
Speaking on the occasion, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, "The research suggests that private sectors may play an important role to reduce carbon emissions working alongside governments."
Prof AK Enamul Haque, director of the Asian Centre for Development, Bangladesh, presented the research report, while Prof Dr Sumaiya Khair, advisor, executive management, TIB, and Zakir Hossain Khan, senior programme manager, good governance in climate financing, TIB, were present at the conference.
Bangladesh has always been very active since the climate change issue started surfacing at the global level, said Iftekharuzzaman. Bangladesh created its own climate fund even before getting any international grant. It is the government that takes all the policy decisions about reducing carbon emissions including during electricity generation, but private sectors also may play an important role in this sector, he added.
As a part of the United Nations Framework Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiation, all countries were asked to provide a global commitment to reduce carbon emissions. Most of the countries have pledged to bring down their emission levels to contribute towards meeting the global targets to arrest the process of global warming.
So far, 165 countries including Bangladesh have pledged Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to reduce carbon emissions as part of the Paris Agreement of Climate Change.
Last year, Bangladesh submitted its INDC with an unconditional commitment to reduce 5 percent of its usual emissions. It also committed that by 2030, another 15 percent reduction would be achieved on the condition of availability of international assistance.
Mitigation efforts will be particularly concentrated on power, transport and industry sectors since these are likely to be the highest emitting sectors of the country by 2030.
The survey was conducted through sending questionnaires via emails to government officials, academics, and representatives of private and non-government sectors between November 2016 and April 2017.
Among the participants, 64 were from Bangladesh, 80 from Nepal, 61 from the Maldives, 58 from India, 63 from Sri Lanka and 50 from Pakistan.
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