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The government has called on relevant ministries to step up efforts to mobilise more climate change funding from both foreign and domestic sources, officials said.
At a meeting with key ministries involved in climate change fund management on Wednesday, the finance ministry also discussed climate financing from both the public and private sectors, they added.
The meeting was chaired by Finance Secretary Dr Khairuzzaman Mozumder and attended by Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Secretary Dr Farhina Ahmed, senior officials from the National Board of Revenue, Bangladesh Bank, Economic Relations Division, Financial Institutions Division and wing heads of the Finance Division.
A senior official who attended the meeting told The Financial Express that the country's climate change spending has been increasing every year. However, as the impacts of climate change deepen, spending in this sector needs to be significantly increased every year, which the government alone cannot afford.
The meeting was told that Bangladesh receives very little climate funding from foreign sources, although there is scope to significantly increase its share from various global initiatives.
The importance of submitting more applications to these global climate funds with the required documentation was also underscored at the meeting, sources said.
The meeting also discussed the very low level of climate change-related spending from the private sector, which needs to be scaled up.
Besides, the financial management of climate financing and coordination of funding procedures were also discussed.
Another official said Bangladesh is one of the top countries vulnerable to climate change-induced disasters, but has so far received very little from the global community and initiatives to help it adapt to the erratic climate.
He said the government allocates a huge sum from the annual budget to the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund to implement climate change-related projects.
Also, separate allocations are kept aside for relevant ministries and divisions for the same purpose.
"If government bodies can secure foreign funds for climate change-related projects, we can use our own resources for other development work," said the official.
In the current budget for the fiscal year 2023-24, the government has earmarked Tk 370 billion as the climate-relevant allocation for 25 ministries and divisions, which is 8.99 per cent of their total budget.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a recent note indicated that the annual average damage to Bangladesh from tropical cyclones alone has already reached $1.0 billion or 0.7 per cent of the GDP.
These impacts may increase further, with more frequent and intense cyclones being particularly significant contributors to major damages.
According to a 2021 World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) report, Bangladesh incurred losses of nearly $11.3 billion in 2021 due to climate-induced natural disasters, which is about 2.47 per cent of its GDP for the FY2021-2022.
Data shows that Bangladesh has so far secured $374 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for seven projects and another $380 million in loans, including $6.1 million in grants from the same fund for eight readiness activities.
On the other hand, the country has so far received a total of $160 million in grants and $1,037 million in additional co-financing for 58 projects from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
The country has also received a total of $110 million in grants and near-zero interest credits from the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR) of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF).
Dr A Atiq Rahman, executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), earlier told the FE that there are scopes for securing global climate funds provided that government bodies submit high-quality proposals.
However, he said the standard of most of the applications submitted to the global funds from Bangladesh is "comparatively poor", which is why they are "unsuccessful", as donors check competitiveness before paying money.
Mr Rahman said private sector research organisations and activists have taken Bangladesh's vulnerability to the international community, but the government has not been able to convert this into taka.
"Also, we have a bad image in the market over accountability in spending money," he said, adding, that also contributed to the failure to secure funds from abroad.