Ensuring Clean Air: Experts Call for Enactment of Clean Air Act and Sustainable Energy Financing

Strategic Insights -

At a recent policy breakfast, speakers from various organizations emphasized the need for the enactment of a Clean Air Act and the incorporation of standards for air pollutants from power plants in the 2022 Air Pollution Control Rules. They also underscored the importance of effective administrative mechanisms and public-private partnerships with accountability in renewable energy financing. The event, titled "Revisiting Energy Policies for Ensuring Clean Air," was jointly organized by the Center for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS), Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP), and the Center for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD).

Key Takeaways:

  • The country's half a dozen coal-fired power plants are polluting the air and posing risks to agriculture and biodiversity, according to Abu Sayed Md Kamruzzaman, CEO of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).
  • First Secretary and Deputy Head of Development Cooperation (Environment and Climate Change) of the Embassy of Sweden in Dhaka Nayoka Martinez Backstrom highlighted the support of European partners for a clean and just energy transition, emphasizing innovation in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
  • The local energy demand can be reduced through increased public transport and greater use of renewable energy, which will also help in controlling urban air pollution, said BIP president Professor Adil Muhammad Khan.
  • CPRD executive director Md Shamsuddoha stressed the need for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement, which is currently missing in national energy policies.
  • Both the interim and future governments were suggested to rely on local expert panels rather than foreign consultants for developing energy and other policies, proposed by Mohammad Fazle Reza Suman, Convener of the Advisory Board of BIP, Dr Md Saifur Rahman, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, and Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

Statistics:

  • The country has six coal-fired power plants that are polluting the air and posing risks to agriculture and biodiversity.
  • The local energy demand can be reduced by increasing public transport and using renewable energy, which can also help control urban air pollution.
  • The goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is in line with the Paris Agreement.
  • The renewable energy financing should be done through public-private partnerships with accountability.

Sources:

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Center for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS), Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP), and the Center for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD)

  • Speaker, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC)
  • Nayoka Martinez Backstrom, First Secretary and Deputy Head of Development Cooperation (Environment and Climate Change) of the Embassy of Sweden in Dhaka
  • Professor Adil Muhammad Khan, President of BIP
  • Md Shamsuddoha, Executive Director of CPRD
  • Mohammad Fazle Reza Suman, Convener of the Advisory Board of BIP
  • Dr Md Saifur Rahman, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change
  • Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD)