In 2024, the globe endured the hottest June and August as well as the hottest days (World Economic Forum Report) on record. And as per C3S (Climate Copernicus Centre Service), the temperature-related extreme events witnessed in 2024 will become more frequent and devastating for people and the planet -- which poses significant threats to health, agriculture, and livelihoods.
With rapid urbanization and the number of buildings is on rise, people living in cities and towns are struggling to adapt to the changing climate with rising electricity costs, water shortages, and unbearable working conditions.
In Dhaka, the impact of the urban heat island (UHI) is so severe that roads and buildings are trapping heat long even after sunset. Outdoor workers labour under dangerous temperatures, while children and the elderly face heightened risks of heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses.
Climate change is no longer a distant reality and requires immediate, people-centric scientific actions to be taken. While tackling the environmental and climate crisis is primarily led by the government, the question of accountability should be a shared responsibility.
Global warming is not driven only by greenhouse gas emissions released somewhere far away. It is also intensified by how institutions and industries operate every day. Unplanned urbanization, unchecked pollution, excessive dependence on fossil fuels, destruction of wetlands and green spaces, poor waste management, and weak environmental oversight all contribute to making cities hotter, floods worse, and communities more vulnerable.
In Bangladesh, conversations around climate change often focus, understandably, on adaptation and disaster response, as the severity of climate risks for human systems depends markedly on their adaptive capacity.
The country is one of the most climate-vulnerable in the world where cyclones, salinity intrusion, flash floods, erratic rainfall, and heatwaves are already reshaping lives and livelihoods.
In some of the hardest-hit districts, households are losing nearly half of their annual income due to climate-induced shocks, according to field-level findings from Brac. And these are marginalized communities who have played no part in contributing to the cause.
Considering the diverse impacts Bangladesh is facing, climate response cannot rely on development programs and projects alone. The emerging question should be whether institutions themselves are becoming accountable for their environmental impact, climate risks, and long-term sustainability practices.
For too long, climate action in many sectors has remained largely performative or fragmented. Organizations may speak about sustainability while continuing operations that increase emissions, waste resources, or ignore environmental risks.
Climate resilience is often treated as a side initiative rather than something embedded into governance, financial planning, operations, and investment decisions. This is where climate accountability becomes critical.
Accountability means measuring environmental impact instead of making vague commitments. It means publicly disclosing climate risks, emissions, sustainability practices, and climate-related financial commitments in ways that can be scrutinized and compared.
It means recognizing that climate responsibility is no longer optional for governments, corporations, development organizations, or financial institutions.
Globally, there is growing pressure on institutions to adopt transparent climate reporting standards. Increasingly, sustainability is being viewed not simply as a reputational issue, but as a core operational and economic concern. Investors, policy-makers, and communities alike are demanding evidence of action, rather than promises and policies that remain on paper.
In Bangladesh, this conversation is still relatively new, particularly within the development sector. That is why Brac’s recent adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS S1 and S2) Sustainability Disclosure framework is significant.
As the first non-governmental organization in the country to voluntarily align its sustainability and climate-related disclosures with these global standards, Brac is attempting to demonstrate that climate risks and impacts can be measured, managed, and disclosed in a structured and internationally recognized way.
The importance of this step lies less in the publication of a report itself and more in what it signals. It reflects a growing recognition that climate change affects every aspect of institutional functioning, from operations and infrastructure to investments and long-term development outcomes.
The disclosure outlines efforts to integrate climate considerations across programs and operations, including climate-adaptive agriculture, renewable energy, disaster preparedness, water management, circular economy initiatives, and nature-based solutions.
Nonetheless, this should not be viewed as a finished achievement. Climate accountability is an ongoing process, and no single institution has fully solved the challenge.
The real value lies in beginning to build systems where climate risks, emissions, and sustainability practices are measured transparently and improved consistently over time.
Bangladesh is entering a period where climate pressures will increasingly shape public health, migration, food systems, urban liveability, and economic stability.
In this context, climate accountability can no longer remain confined to policy discussions or international conferences. It must become part of how institutions operate on a daily basis.
Addressing climate change will require more than awareness campaigns and isolated interventions. It will require a deeper culture of responsibility, where institutions are expected not only to talk about it, but also to measure, disclose, and stand accountable for their role in shaping the future.
Md Liakath Ali, PhD is the Director of Climate Change, Urban Development and Disaster Risk Management Programs at BRAC.