Like the Covid recovery fund, the Bangladesh Bank should form a renewable energy fund of at least Tk10,000 crore with support from the national budget to reduce lenders’ risks, speakers said at a roundtable on 23 August.
They stressed that the central bank alone cannot shoulder the burden of promoting sustainable financing in the country.
The government must step in with fiscal support, such as funds and incentives, and ensure the availability of credible data to scale up green energy and sustainability-linked projects.
The roundtable, organized jointly by Oxfam and The Business Standard under the former’s fair financing initiative, underscored the urgent need for largescale financing to meet Bangladesh’s renewable energy ambitions.
Hasan Mehedi, member secretary of the Bangladesh Working Group on External Debt, pointed out that the government has recently decided to generate 3,000MW of solar power through a Rooftop Solar Program within this fiscal year.
The plan requires $2.4 billion (Tk29,280 crore) in financing in just 10 months.
Also, the revised Renewable Energy Policy 2025 targets to achieve a 20% renewable energy share by 2030 and 30% by 2040, which would need $7.2 billion (Tk87,230 crore) investment in the next five years.