Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has expressed concern that there was no significant progress made regarding climate change funding at the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP 25) held in Madrid.
This was said in a press release signed by TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman on Tuesday.
The release said: “To face ‘Loss and Damage’ due to climate change, no decision was made to set up a fund. To bring global temperature down, the ‘Intended Nationally Determined Contributions’ (INDC) were also not updated.
“Lastly, there was no decision given about the draft ‘rulebook’ of the ‘Paris Agreement’ from the COP 24 conference.”
TIB has also expressed frustration with the growth of profits for insurance companies to tackle climate change in affected countries.
Iftekharuzzaman said in the statement: “Commitments from developed countries to give $100 billion every year were not discussed.
“Now, long term funding to tackle climate change has become quite uncertain.”
The COP 25, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was held from December 2 to 13 in Madrid, Spain, this year.
Earlier, TIB demanded the disbursement of financial aid by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) that was pledged for countries like Bangladesh that are vulnerable due to climate change.
They also urged the GCF to release the allocated funds for three projects approved by the financial mechanism under the UNFCCC in Bangladesh.
According to the studies conducted by TIB, Bangladesh has been granted $85 million so far from the GCF but the country needs more than $2.5 billion to tackle climate risks, added TIB.
GCF approved the first project in Bangladesh in 2015 but it is yet to provide the money which was promised.
As the Paris Agreement does not have a legal accord on this issue, international monetary organizations such as the World Bank, ADB, and IMF, along with some corrupt banks and financial institutions, have created a vicious cycle of blocking money withdrawals from the funds,” Iftekharuzzaman said earlier.
