Experts push for Clean Air Act

Speakers at a policy breakfast Thursday underscored the need for enactment of a Clean Air Act and inclusion of certain standards on air pollutants from power plants in the 2022 Air Pollution Control Rules.

They also called for effective administrative mechanisms and public-private partnerships with accountability in renewable energy financing.

Clean air is not a luxury -- it is a constitutional right, they said.

The policy breakfast titled "Revisiting Energy Policies for Ensuring Clean Air" was jointly organised by the Center for Atmospheric Pollution Studies (CAPS), Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP), and the Center for Participatory Research and Development (CPRD) at the conference hall of the BIP in the city.

CAPS chairman Professor Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder presented the keynote paper at the event chaired by Professor Md Shahidul Islam, Chairman of Geography and Environment Department of Dhaka University.

The country's half a dozen coal-fired power plants are not only polluting the air but also are harmful to agriculture and biodiversity, said Abu Sayed Md Kamruzzaman, chief executive officer (CEO) of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).

First Secretary and Deputy Head of Development Cooperation (Environment & Climate Change) of the Embassy of Sweden in Dhaka Nayoka Martinez Bäckström highlighted the support of many European partners for a clean and just energy transition through innovation in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and by enhancing grid connectivity, distribution, and storage.

She also emphasised the importance of involving civil society organisations, researchers, think-tanks, youth, and industry stakeholders in energy sector coordination.

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 the 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.

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), suggested that both the interim and future governments rely on local expert panels rather than foreign consultants for developing energy and other policies.

Azizjst@yahoo.com