Category: Energy and Power

Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Faqir Mahbub Anam recently said more than 1,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity from unit-1 of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) is expected to be added to the national grid by December this year.

Of the 1000 MW, 300 MW of electricity will be added to the national grid by the end of August this year, he said.

The minister made the remarks while addressing a two-day strategic roundtable discussion, titled ‘Nuclear Energy: Strategy, Realities and Bangladesh’s Path Forward,’ at the Swapnadeep Resort conference hall in Ishwardi, Pabna.

He also said nuclear fuel loading for the second unit of the nuclear power plant is expected to be completed in April 2027.

If everything proceeds according to plan, an additional 1,000 MW from unit-2 will be connected to the national grid by December 2027.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change held a highlevel meeting to explore practical measures for improving environmental compliance while supporting the sustainable growth of Bangladesh’s apparel and textile industry.

The meeting took place at the Bangladesh Secretariat, where a BGMEA delegation led by President Mahmud Hasan Khan met with Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo.

Discussions focused on aligning environmental regulations with the operational realities of the ready-made garment (RMG) and sustainable textile sectors.

During the meeting, industry leaders reaffi rmed their commitment to environmental sustainability while highlighting several technical and implementation challenges associated with the Environmental Conservation Rules 2023

Bangladesh needs a market-based approach involving battery tracking, fi nancial incentives and stronger regulation to tackle unsafe lead-acid battery recycling, researchers and policymakers said recently.

They said around 80 percent of used lead-acid batteries are currently processed through informal and illegal facilities, creating serious public health, environmental and economic risks.

The challenge is not only to stop unsafe recycling but also to build a system where batteries are properly tracked, safely recycled and managed through a responsible circular economy, they said at a seminar titled ‘Evidence to Action: Economic and Policy Pathways for a Safer Lead-Acid Battery Circular Economy in Bangladesh’.

Presenting a new policy study at a city hotel, Prof Erica Plambeck of Stanford University said informal recyclers dominate the sector because they avoid taxes, environmental compliance costs and regulatory requirements.

Efforts to strengthen global climate action gained renewed attention in June.

Still, negotiations at the UN Climate Change Meetings in Bonn were overshadowed by persistent disagreements over climate fi nance and key policy issues, highlighting the growing challenge of translating climate ambitions into concrete action, according to the latest report by IISD SDG Knowledge Hub.

Negotiators faced signifi cant diffi culties in advancing discussions on several major agenda items, including the Mitigation Work Program (MWP), the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), the transition of the Adaptation Fund to serve exclusively under the Paris Agreement, the Just Transition Work Program, and research and systematic observation.

Deep divisions among countries meant that, on many issues, delegates were unable to agree on draft negotiating texts to advance at the 2026 UN Climate Change Conference (COP31), scheduled to take place in Antalya, Trkiye, later this year.

Climate fi nance remained one of the most contentious issues throughout the Bonn meetings.

Developing countries continued to stress that greater fi nancial support is essential for implementing mitigation and adaptation measures, while developed countries faced increasing pressure to scale up commitments.

During the conference, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released a new assessment showing that substantial untapped opportunities exist to better align global fi nancial flows with climate goals.

The report suggested that redirecting investments toward low-carbon and climate-resilient development across regions could signifi cantly accelerate the global transition.

Ocean-based climate action also received renewed attention during the annual UNFCCC Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue, where governments, scientists and stakeholders emphasized the need to better connect local adaptation needs with existing international climate fi nance mechanisms.

Participants argued that stronger fi nancial support is necessary to help coastal and island communities cope with rising climate risks.

Beyond formal negotiations, several side events highlighted the growing recognition that climate action must be integrated across multiple sectors.

Experts called for stronger links between the Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue and broader UN climate negotiations to ensure greater policy coherence.

Discussions under the Turquoise Nexus Initiative focused on the interconnected challenges of food security, sustainable water management and climate adaptation.

Specialists also urged governments to strengthen cooperation across the three Rio Conventions by incorporating wildlife conservation into climate policies.

Meanwhile, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) highlighted the role of its Multilateral System in improving global access to plant genetic resources, supporting food security, biodiversity conservation and climate resilience.

Outside the UNFCCC process, climate scientists and agricultural experts met to review the latest evidence on climate change and agrifood systems.

Their recommendations will contribute to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Seventh Assessment Report (AR7).

Participants agreed that future climate policies should move beyond individual sectors and adopt a comprehensive agrifood systems approach.

Building resilience to climate impacts remained a central theme throughout June.

Experts emphasized the critical role of peatlands in storing carbon, protecting biodiversity and strengthening resilience against climate change.

Organizers also opened applications for the Earthna Prize 2026, which recognizes innovative resilience solutions rooted in traditional knowledge, with submissions remaining open until 20 July 2026.

Despite limited progress in formal negotiations, the June discussions underscored growing international recognition that stronger climate fi nance, cross-sector collaboration and integrated policy approaches will be essential for raising global climate ambition ahead of COP31

Bangladesh has ranked 99th out of 120 countries in the Energy Transition Index 2026, lagging behind regional peers amid persistent weaknesses in transition readiness and continued dependence on imported fossil fuels despite improvements in electricity access and overall energysystem performance.

The Energy Transition Index 2026, published on 18 June by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Accenture, assessed countries on their ability to balance energy security, sustainability and affordability while advancing towards cleaner energy systems.

Within South Asia, Sri Lanka emerged as the region’s top performer at 68th place, followed by India at 70th.

Pakistan ranked 90th, while Nepal stood at 111th.

Sweden remained the world’s best-performing country for the third consecutive year, followed by Finland and Denmark.

Advanced economies, including China and the United States, occupied 14 of the top 20 positions

The entire nation – not only the football fans – is in an ecstatic food thanks to the ongoing World Cup competition, the greatest show on earth.

Bangladesh is not among the 48 countries that have qualifi ed for the tournament – held after every four years, but the fans here are as enthusiastic as the playing nations.

Defending champions Argentina and fi ve-times world champions Brazil have the largest number of fans in Bangladesh.

France, England, Portugal have also many followers but their number is far behind the two Latin American heavyweights.

In Bangladesh the time is now for wiping out sleep from eyes in order to watch and enjoy the exciting moments with football giants such as Messi, Ronaldo, Neymer, Kylian Mbappe, Vini, Halland and Harry Kane fi ghting for glory.

The problem here has been the timing of the matches: midnight or early morning.

Many are defying the odds in the timing.

While fans -millions in number – are cheering and shouting for their teams the World Cup matches have caused some concern for the electricity authorities.

Not alarming though there have recently been incidents of protests, vandalism and violence over load-shedding during the matches.

Some areas have seen human chain protests on the streets and stoning of rural electrifi cation offi ces.

According to Prothom Alo such protests have been reported from Tangail, Jhalakathi, Netrokona and Sylhet and Dhaka’s Dohar area.

Rrural electrifi cation authorities in these areas have asked for additional security measures fearing power outage-related protests.

As the weather heats up despite monsoon rains the demand for electricity has increased pushed up by increased use of fans and air conditioners.

The World Cup has added some extra hardships though.

It has broken the normal pattern of electricity consumption in the country – peak hour from the evening till 11 pm.

Now the demand goes up from midnight until early morning as many of the World Cup matches are late night and morning affairs.

With power being produced far below the capacity the existing daily load-shedding is hovering close to 3,000MW.

The brunt of the shortage is being diverted to the rural areas – the perennial sufferers of a discriminatory policy.

For lack of fuel and pending bills many of the power plants are sitting idle while the country can actually generate up to 13,000MW of electricity as against the normal summer demand up to 16,000MW a day.

Here goes the fact.

The country has now a generation capacity of around 29,000MW.

The actual generation hardly crosses 14,000MW.

This means around half the capacity remains idle despite being paid in US dollars as capacity charge.

This gap is being tackled by shedding the load with the rural areas – where 57% of the generation goesbeing the worst sufferers.

What causes the load-shedding and why the rural areas suffer the most? The answer is: Power Development Board’s failure to clear the dues of the power plants and disruption in fuel supply, a long-standing issue that has reached a critical stage due to the war and conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Both wars have disrupted the supply chain of fuel with import-dependent countries like Bangladesh becoming the worst victims.

What Bangladesh now requires most is to ease the reliance on imported fossil fuel.

Let’s have a pivotal change in the fuel policy and try to explore more fi elds for natural gas on-shore and offshore.

Drilling for new gas fi elds has to be started without delay.

The new BNP government has invited international oil companies to participate in its bid for offshore oil search.

Conditions have been relaxed making the offer more lucrative to the international companies.

It’s now time to wait and see the outcome

Malaysia have reaffi rmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, with a particular focus on expanding collaboration between Petrobangla and Malaysia’s national oil company, Petronas.

The discussions took place during a high-level meeting between the Prime Minister of Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Tarique Rahman, followed by a joint press conference highlighting key areas of mutual interest, including energy security, LNG supply, upstream investment, and technical cooperation.

The commitment came during Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s offi cial visit to Malaysia today at the invitation of Malaysian Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, according to a joint statement issued following bilateral talks between the two leaders.

According to offi cials, both sides placed strong emphasis on enhancing long-term energy partnership amid global market volatility and rising demand for cleaner and more reliable energy sources

Nepal’s plan to increase electricity exports to Bangladesh has been stalled after India declined approval for an additional 20MW, citing constraints on cross-border transmission capacity, energy offi cials said.

According to The Kathmandu Post, India’s Central Electricity Authority (CEA) withheld clearance for the proposed increase, saying the cross-border transmission corridor lacks suffi cient capacity to carry additional load.

Offi cials noted that the process has stalled pending a revised tripartite agreement and further reviews by the Nepal-India Energy Secretary-level Joint Steering Committee (JSC).

Nepal exports its surplus hydropower to India and Bangladesh during the wet monsoon season, while reverting to power imports from India during the winter.

A bilateral JSC meeting held in Dhaka on Nov 27, 2025 had agreed in principle to scale up the power trade by adding 20MW to the operational 40MW framework

Asia’s liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) market is showing signs of recovery after months of disruption caused by the Iran conflict and supply interruptions through the Strait of Hormuz.

Renewed buying by China, the world’s largest LNG importer, has helped lift regional demand, signaling improved market confi dence.

According to commodity analytics fi rm Kpler, Asia is expected to import around 21.8 million tonnes of LNG in June, the highest monthly volume in fi ve months and slightly above the level recorded a year earlier.

The rebound follows a sharp decline in April, when LNG imports fell to a six-year low after supply disruptions from Qatar tightened global availability.

China has resumed spot LNG purchases as prices eased from the record highs seen during the peak of the Middle East crisis.

Japan has also increased imports to meet summer electricity demand, while India is diversifying supplies through imports from the United States, Nigeria and Angola to reduce dependence on Qatar.

Despite steady progress in renewable energy deployment, 655 million people worldwide still lacked access to electricity in 2024, while nearly 2 billion people continued to rely on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking, according to the latest Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report.

The report warns that the world is not on track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 on universal access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy by 2030.

Electrifi cation efforts, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, must triple to meet the target, as the region accounts for more than 560 million people without electricity.

Renewable energy continued to expand, supplying over 30% of global electricity, while global renewable generation capacity reached a record high.

However, progress in energy effi ciency and clean energy fi nancing remains insuffi cient.

International public fi nance for clean energy in developing countries increased only marginally to US$24.6 billion in 2024, with funding for the least developed countries declining