With the UN Climate Summit this week seeking to reduce greenhouse emissions, it is timely to look at ways Bangladesh can allocate its own energy resources more efficiently.
Market-driven incentives are essential to curb waste and drive investment in energy efficiency and renewables. Costly subsidies for diesel and electricity, which are wasteful of scarce taxpayer funds and contrary to the goal of boosting renewable energy production, should be scrapped.
Bangladesh has made progress on some aspects of this issue. For example, the state-supported Infrastructure Development Company is reportedly on course to install 4 million solar home systems generating 105MW of power by 2015.
However, as a nation with limited energy reserves, we must go further and use every policy tool available to allocate our own resources more efficiently.
CNG for private cars should be stopped. Gas is a precious national resource. Its use should be limited to providing power for industry and fuelling public transport.
We should stop encouraging its use by car owners. People who can afford cars can afford to pay for fuel at the correct market rate. They do not need to be helped by subsidies, and should be incentivised to use smaller, more efficient vehicles.
Bangladesh’s per capita emissions of greenhouse gases are relatively very low, so changing fuels for the small number of private car owners will not make much difference. Indeed, it may encourage more sensible use of private cars and facilitate investment in cleaner public transport.
The government must review all aspects of energy pricing so that precious non-renewable resources are used most efficiently.