Abstract
Bangladesh’s constant growth with an annual 6% plus Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for more than the last two decades and achievements in other socio-economic metrics in recent times is impressive and recognized by various global authoritative bodies. The extent of overwhelming economic ventures in the private sector coupled with the commitments of the government clearly demonstrates the transformation of the country from a primarily agro-based economy to one influenced by the manufacturing and service sectors. Bangladesh is fortunate to have fossil fuel reserves on a limited scale, though these are not enough to run the ongoing massive scale development activities, both in private and public sectors. Thus, the constant and uninterrupted supply of energy at an affordable price remains a serious concern for the successive governments. Therefore, this issue of supply of constant energy has turned to be an important part in the national development agenda. Besides, the country is one of the worst victim nations of the devastating effects of global warming and climate change. As Bangladesh is geographically located in a favorable place in the world map with the availability of plenty of renewable energy sources (RES), the policymakers started to take initiatives leading to exploiting these sources to meet the energy demand of the country. There are both prospects and administrative, legal, technological, socio-cultural and environmental challenges. To address these challenges, it requires comprehensive policy initiatives. A good number of technical and scientific research containing findings and recommendations are available. This paper, which is based on adopting a qualitative research methodology where the contents of secondary sources were analyzed, is an initial attempt to highlight the renewable energy developments in Bangladesh, and subsequently, to evaluate the relevant legal and policy initiatives in the light of international best practices. We advance several recommendations that the stakeholders can consider exploiting RES effectively to attain inclusive, equitable and sustainable development in Bangladesh. These include, inter alia: (1) Enhancing government participation to lead the development of renewable energy (RE); (2) ensuring localization of RE technology; (3) reducing the expenses of energy generation through RES and providing assistance in initial investments; (4) introducing comprehensive legal and regulatory policy for the development of RE industry in Bangladesh; and (5) conducting effective public awareness.
Highlights
Energy generated from fossil or traditional fuel sources, such as natural oil, gas and coal, etc., causes negative impacts on our surrounding environment as they produce greenhouse gases (GHGs) which are responsible for climate change and global warming
Notwithstanding, there is no urgent or explicit authoritative decision that binds the countries legally to advance the local utilization of renewable energy sources (RES) to generate electricity [6], though the provisions of the recently adopted Paris Agreement to UNFCCC encourages the use of renewable energy (RE)
Bangladesh remained extremely reliant on fossil fuel sources to generate electricity, and these sources are depleting naturally
Summary
Energy generated from fossil or traditional fuel sources, such as natural oil, gas and coal, etc., causes negative impacts on our surrounding environment as they produce greenhouse gases (GHGs) which are responsible for climate change and global warming. It is a bottom-up treaty that obliges every country to undertake essential efforts for the protection of the environment and keeping climate stable [6]. Having ratified the Paris Agreement, the country has pledged to reduce its GHG emissions by 5% below ‘business-as-usual’ level by 2030 using domestic resources regardless of the country’s GDP In such a context, Bangladesh is responsible to the establishment, development and implementation of the legal framework for addressing the environmental concerns, formulate rules and policies for reducing the GHG emissions, and realize a sustainable economic strategy to generate electricity [6]. Part 5 of this paper covers discussion on the legal, regulatory and policy aspects of RE in Bangladesh and Part 6, proposes some suggestions and recommendations
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