On the eve of the 29th Conference of the Parties in Baku in Azerbaijan, civil society representatives in Dhaka on Saturday demanded stronger international efforts to curb carbon emissions.
At a seminar held at the CIRDAP Auditorium, they said that climate finance initiatives would be ineffective unless global warming was limited to 2C by 2100.
EquityBD, COAST Foundation, CDP, CPRD, AOSED, BCJF, Manusher Jonno Foundation and CSRL jointly organised the seminar, said a press release.
Emphasising a reduction target of 42 per cent in carbon emissions by 2030 compared to 2019 levels, speakers warned international communities of dire consequences if global temperatures exceeded this threshold.
Among others, Fazle Rabbi from Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation, Rezaul Karim Chowdhury of EquityBD, Syed Aminul Haque of COAST Foundation, and government representative Dharitri Kumar Sarkar from the environment, forest and climate change ministry spoke at the event.
They stressed that climate finance remained inadequate, with funds often channeled through institutions such as the World Bank rather than the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
They observed that such financing often limited their effectiveness.
In his keynote speech, Abul Hasan of COAST Foundation urged unconditional climate funding for vulnerable countries.
He said that at least 75 per cent of climate finance should be managed through the UNFCCC.
Fazle Rabbi highlighted that less than one per cent of the pledged climate funds reached affected nations.