A new report has identified 7 interlinked priorities that need to be pursued simultaneously to accelerate Bangladesh’s transition towards a more just, low-carbon, and climate-resilient future.
THE REPORT: To help stakeholders identify how they can contribute to advancing just industry transitions, the report— Just Climate Transitions in Bangladesh: Accelerating Multistakeholder Action in Textile and Apparel and Construction Industries— authored and published by FSG (Sujata Rathi, Akshay Kohli, Subhash Chennuri), with support from the H&M Foundation and Laudes Foundation, offers industry-focused scenarios that outline potential futures for transitions in the textile and apparel, and construction sectors.
- These scenarios, co-created with a diversity of over 100 Bangladeshi and international stakeholders, serve as a reference point for navigating the urgency, complexity, and uncertainty around the impacts of Bangladesh industry’s climate transitions on its workers.
- The scenarios are not predictions. Instead, they present multiple possible futures so that decision makers can explore the full spectrum of possibilities, positive and negative, expected and surprising.
The seven inter-connected priorities for accelerating just industry transitions in priority sectors in Bangladesh:
1 Climate change mitigation through transition to low-carbon manufacturing, including design, processes, and energy: Utilisation of innovative processes that reduce on-site burning of fossil fuels and improvements in energy efficiency and material efficiency of existing processes can help reduce onsite burning of fossil fuels which account for 83 percent of textile and apparel sector emissions.
- Addressing the remaining emissions from consumption of electricity from the grid, requires a combination of decarbonisation of the grid and switching to onsite renewables.
2 Climate change mitigation through increased uptake of sustainable and circular inputs: Using sustainable inputs can reduce emissions from upstream and downstream parts of the value chain, mitigating transition risk as global and domestic demand moves towards lower-carbon production. In the textile and apparel sector, several manufacturers are exploring sustainable and circular inputs.
3 Climate adaptation at site and manufacturing hub: Climate change-induced heat stress and high vulnerability to flooding are already impacting worker productivity and causing supply chain disruptions in the textile and apparel sector in Bangladesh. Resilient public infrastructure in clusters where textile, apparel, and construction material factories, and workers’ homes are located can help reduce manufacturing and supply chain disruptions.
- Improved factory infrastructure such as flood barriers, raised foundations, and drainage systems can reduce disruptions due to coastal or riverine flooding and safeguard workers’ productivity.
- Similarly, operational changes at factory and/or construction sites, such as frequent breaks for rest and water, can alleviate heat stress among workers.
- National policy protections, including enhancement of labour laws to include specific provisions for high heat conditions and health insurance could help workers better manage the impacts of heat stress.
- Finally, climate-responsive insurance could help compensate manufacturers as well as workers for loss of earnings due to heat stress and flooding.
4 Alternative sector development, skilling, and social protection to mitigate job losses: As the textile and apparel sector transitions, old roles will be phased out and new roles created. To avoid loss of livelihoods and maximise the creation of decent work opportunities, it will be critical to ensure the development of new roles in the geographies and periods with the highest need.
- Investment in existing sectors with growth potential, such as jute, healthcare, hospitality, and retail could create about 1.5 million new jobs in Bangladesh by 2030, which could be taken up by workers formerly employed in the textile and apparel sector, provided they receive skilling and placement support.
- Social protection, particularly unemployment insurance could provide a vital safety net as workers transition between roles.
5 Availability of adequate and affordable housing, to improve worker resilience to transitions: A significant proportion of workers in the textile and apparel sector live in informal housing. Affordable housing, with basic facilities can help improve the resilience of workers to the impacts of climate change, protecting the competitiveness of the industries they are employed in.
- Policy support, development of land banks serviced with basic infrastructure by government agencies (e.g., municipalities or district administrations), simpler and expedited approvals for affordable housing projects, and access to low-cost financing can all help scale adequate and affordable housing for workers in these sectors.
6 Development of innovative financing solutions: While intergovernmental organisations and several international government partners are taking action to improve financing in Bangladesh, further financing is needed, including from the private sector and philanthropy, which have distinct roles in closing the significant finance gap that exists today.
- Derisking instruments, such as blended finance, guarantee mechanisms, Islamic finance, and thematic bonds could play a critical role in unlocking capital for just transitions.
- Financing instruments should be designed to take a holistic approach aggregating a package of opportunities which incorporate social equity considerations, diversify risk, and reduce transaction costs.
7 Across all of the above, a prioritisation of the inclusion and agency of and accountability to workers involved: Integrating lived experience of workers in the planning and execution of decisions that could impact them is essential for successful implementation. For example, workers are best placed to advise on the implementation of adaptation measures to improve their own resilience and productivity.
- To ensure local support for transitions, where old roles become redundant, workers should be involved in planning and negotiating their own transitions.
- Additionally, it is important to provide capacity building to enable workers to access roles with better pay either within their own sector or other sectors, and where relevant, to start their own enterprises.
- Collectivisation of workers (including those employed through third-party contractors or intermediaries) to be able to negotiate for workers in the design and implementation of those plans, and a supportive legal framework can significantly strengthen agency and inclusion of, and accountability to workers.
