Bangladesh is facing frequent climatic disasters due to climate change, despite contributing to 0.52 per cent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2022 (Climate Watch, 2025). Climate change has adverse impact on temperature, air quality, and water level. Concurrently, salinity intrusion in the southwestern regions has intensified, disrupting traditional agricultural practices. These changes have led to a transformation in cropping patterns, while agricultural activities in the northern areas have also experienced severe adverse impacts due to climate-induced stresses. These disasters have adversely affected economic activities through losses in agricultural production, infrastructure damage, and disruptions to livelihoods and markets. From 2000 to 2019, the country has suffered around USD 3.72 billion of economic losses from different natural disasters (Ahsan, et al., 2024).
Changing climatic conditions also have profound socioeconomic consequences. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) (2025), approximately 21.20 million people were internally displaced in Bangladesh between 2008 and 2024 due to climate-induced disasters such as floods, storms, riverbank erosion, and earthquakes, impacting their socioeconomic conditions. At the same time, the rise in salinity intrusion in the south western regions of Bangladesh has profound impact on reproductive health of women.
Realising the importance of addressing the issue, several policies such as National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF), Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), National Adaptation Plan (NAP), and Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 were adopted by the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), prioritising the climate-specific needs. However, there exists significant gaps in climate financing, which hinders the country’s ability to effectively address the impacts of climate change. While climate budget have seen an average annual increase of 15.53 per cent since FY2017, this growth is insufficient. For instance, a report by Khatun et al. (2024) estimated a cumulative funding shortfall of BDT 5,792.34 billion by FY2030 to reach SDG 13 targets. Whereas, in the FY2025-26 budget, some climate-specific Social Safety Net Programmes (SSNPs) have been dropped off the list.
Although numerous climate-related projects exist, the absence of effective implementation plans has led to underutilisation of government funds, highlighting the need for improved climate finance management. Moreover, many projects are undertaken without adequate feasibility analysis, while others are initiated based on political considerations and non-technical biases rather than objective needs.
Against this backdrop, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the Youth Policy Dialogue on 20 October 2025 during CPD Climate Week 2025. The dialogues were attended by young representatives from different universities, youth organisations from all over the country, to discuss the climate solutions that work.
Publication Period: December 2025
Author: Centre for Polciy Dialogue (CPD)
