Bangladesh stands at a defining crossroads. The question is no longer whether the country will expand renewable energy, but who will own it, who will benefit from it, and whose future it will serve. The current Draft Renewable Energy Development Strategy 2026 - 2030 risks preserving the very inequalities it claims to overcome replacing imported fossil fuels with imported technologies while leaving centralized control, fossil subsidies, and community exclusion largely untouche

Bangladesh cannot achieve its 10,000 MW renewable energy target by creating policies that benefit only large corporate investors while excluding the very communities needed to drive a just energy transition. The National Board of Revenue’s latest SRO offers selective tax relief for utility-scale solar projects, yet imposes short implementation timelines, burdensome certification requirements, and restrictive compliance conditions that place small enterprises, community initia

Over the past three decades, Mymensingh’s landscape has been quietly but profoundly reshaped. Fields have expanded, settlements have surged, and once-abundant waterbodies and green spaces have steadily disappeared. This position paper traces those changes from 1990 to 2024, revealing how everyday decisions about farming, housing, and land conversion are collectively altering the district’s ecological foundations. What emerges is not a distant environmental concern, but a stor

This position paper assesses whether the draft EPSMP 2025 advances energy sovereignty by reducing long‑term exposure to external shocks, enables a just energy transition that ensures equity, community stewardship, and intergenerational justice, and aligns with Natural Rights‑Led Governance by grounding energy decision‑making in nature’s sovereignty, rights of nature, integrity, and accountable, peaceful governance. Read Our Position Paper This paper outlines our institutional

COP30 is typically viewed as a roadmap for climate finance and action, but this position paper highlights it as a big step toward rights-centered climate governance. Drawing on the Natural Rights-Led Governance (NRLG) framework, we show how COP30's emphasis on human rights, Indigenous rights, land rights, traditional knowledge, and viewing ecosystems as more than just carbon sinks that lines up with NRLG's core ideas like rights for nature, accountability, justice, protecting

This position paper titled “Cross-Border Plastic Pollution and its Impact on the Bay of Bengal” was released by the Change Initiative Research Team on World Environment Day, 5 June 2025. It highlights the alarming influx of plastic waste into Bangladesh’s coastal ecosystems, primarily through transboundary rivers like the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna. The report examines the environmental, health, and economic consequences of marine plastic pollution, particularly in the S

Bangladesh faces grave risks from a potential nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan, despite not possessing nuclear weapons. Radioactive fallout could contaminate rivers, farmland, and ecosystems, triggering long-term health crises and ecological decline. As nuclear spending grows at the cost of social investment, Bangladesh remains geopolitically sidelined. The piece urges non-nuclear nations to develop alternative strategic tools—such as diplomatic leverage and techno

বিশ্ব ব্যাংকের মতে, বায়ু, অনিরাপদ পানি, বাজে পয়ঃনিষ্কাশনের মতো দূষণের কারণে প্রতি বছর বাংলাদেশে ২ লাখ ৭২ হাজার মানুষের অকাল মৃত্যু হচ্ছে। পরিবেশগত অবক্ষয়ের কারণে বাংলাদেশের মোট দেশজ উৎপাদনের প্রায় ১৭.৮% হ্রাস পাচ্ছে (বিশ্বব্যাংক, ২০১৯)। ইউনিসেফ এর মতে, বায়ু দূষণের কারণে ২০২১ সালেই প্রায় ২ লাখ ৩৫ হাজার মানুষ মৃত্যুবরণ করেছে এবং গত ১০ বছরে এ হার বেড়েছে ৫৪%; পানি দূষণ ও স্যানিটেশনের অভাবে অকাল মৃত্যুর হার যথাক্রমে ২০% ও ২৬% বেড়েছে। শুধু তাই নয়, গ্লোবাল ক্লাইমেট রিস্ক ইন

Background Plastic waste is accumulating in natural environments, causing long-term damage to ecosystems, wildlife, and human health. The widespread use of single-use plastics, driven by their affordability and convenience, contributes to the enormous amount of plastic waste generated. However, only a small percentage of plastic is recycled globally. Governments, organizations, and individuals are taking measures to combat plastic pollution, including improving waste manageme

Introduction Situated at the deltaic confluence of three great Asian rivers—the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna—the Sundarbans is a testament to nature’s resilience and complexity. Spanning approximately 10,000 square kilometers (about half the area of New Jersey), this labyrinthine network of tidal waterways, mudflats, and small islands is predominantly situated in Bangladesh, with a smaller portion extending into India. The topographic and ecological uniqueness of this area

Overview Ecopreneurship is a term coined to represent the process of principles of entrepreneurship being applied to create businesses that solve environmental problems or operate sustainably. The term began to be widely used in the 1990s, and it is otherwise referred to as “environmental entrepreneurship.“ In the book Merging Economic and Environmental Concerns Through Ecopreneurship, written by Gwyn Schuyler in 1998, ecopreneurs are defined as follows: “Ecopreneurs are entr

Overview South Asian nations have been grappling with the devastating consequences of climate change, including floods, cyclones, heatwaves, and declining agricultural productivity. The economic toll of these climate-induced disasters is staggering, with projections indicating that South Asia could face losses of USD 997 billion by 2070. The need for urgent and effective action cannot be overstated. Per capita climate finance allocation for South Asian nations ranges from US$

Executive Summary In recent years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has portrayed itself as a climate champion through its flagship research publications, staff policy papers, public-facing factsheets, and speeches. But what does its track-record reveal when it comes to its most consequential activity: lending to countries in crisis in exchange for policy reforms? This report examines the evidence from recent IMF loans to Bangladesh and Uganda, as well as additional IMF