Chittagong division is on the verge of becoming the hub of a massive explosion of fossil fuel emissions as a consequence of the government’s plan to install the maximum number of fossil fuel-based power plants in the region.
Altogether 20GW worth of power plant projects have been proposed all over the region, which could emit nearly 1.38 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air in an entire life span, says a report by the Australia-based market research firm Market Force.
The report, "A carbon catastrophe in the making: The dirty energy plans in Chattogram", was released at a joint press conference by Market Force, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA) and Waterkeepers Bangladesh on Monday.
Sharmen Murshid, executive director of Brotee, chaired the event.
Going by the plans of the government, the region currently hosts 17 power plants, which is two-thirds of the nation's entire proposed power plant projects.
All of these are Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)-based projects, except for Matarbari-1 and 2, which is a coal-based power plant. The study has also projected that the two power plants at Matarbari in Moheshkhali under Cox’s Bazar will cause 6,700 premature deaths due to air pollution.
"I have never seen such a massive level of fossil fuel-based power plant installation projects in a single region to date. It's waiting to be the biggest carbon catastrophe in the future," said Julian Vincent, executive director of Market Forces, while presenting the research findings.
Vincent said that LNG was a “price volatile product” and Bangladesh was already buying LNG at an exponentially high cost. The cost would increase further due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
According to the report, the proposed plans regarding the LNG-based plants will cost $960 million to produce one gigawatt of electricity by 2030, and for the Chittagong region, the cost will go up to around $16 bn.
These power plants are being funded by Japan, the United States and some other nations. Over the years, Japan has played a major role in the country’s expansion to power plants based on fossil fuel sources.
Condemning the role of Japan, Bapa General Secretary Sharif Jamil said: “Japan has been our biggest development partner since independence and a true friend. But when the whole world is retreating from fossil fuel combustion, especially coal-fired power plants, Japan is channeling more funds into dirty energy. It’s time Japan acted as a true friend to Bangladesh and funded renewable energy projects.”
He also asked the government to reassess the country’s Power System Action Plan since 48% of the total produced electricity remained surplus.
Dr Khandaker Golam Moazzem, head of research at the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said the power plants would become one of the biggest worries for the government in meeting subsidy costs in the power sector.
“In the next fiscal year, the government will have to subsidize around Tk27,000 crore just for not being able to utilize the electricity which is being produced.
“The issue of overcapacity has become a matter of grave concern which will lead to economic instability in the country. The authorities must have the vision and goodwill to move towards renewable energy,” said Dr Moazzem.