Staff Correspondent:

More than half of Bangladesh’s national climate fund has been lost to corruption, according to a new report released by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).

The study revealed that between 2010 and 2024, approximately 54% of allocations from the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund (BCCTF) were tainted by corruption, amounting to an estimated $248.4 million (over Tk 2,110 crore).

These findings were disclosed on Tuesday morning at the launch of the report titled “Challenges of Good Governance in Climate Finance and the Way Forward in Bangladesh”, held in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi.

While speaking at the event, Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB, said that Bangladesh needs $10–12 billion annually in climate compensation to cope with the impacts of climate change. However, from 2003 to 2024, the country received only $1.2 billion, a negligible amount compared to its actual needs.

“More than half of the national climate fund has been lost to corruption. Politically influential individuals have embezzled this money due to a lack of accountability, good governance, and institutional efficiency. This must change,” said Iftekharuzzaman.

He stressed that without transparency, accountability, and participation of real beneficiaries, sustainable development will remain out of reach.

The report highlighted that widespread political influence, collusion, and nepotism in project approvals, while the BCCTF officials failed to take effective measures to prevent irregularities.

TIB further noted that Bangladesh needs about $12.5 billion annually to address climate impacts. Yet, from 2015 to 2023, the combined annual allocation from national and international sources averaged only $86.2 million, a mere 0.7 percent of the required amount.

The report also shows that allocations from the national fund have declined by 8.2 percent per year on average, while funding from international sources has increased by 43.8 percent.

However, the overall amount remains far below the national requirement.

Implementation delays and inefficiency are also widespread. Of the 891 projects under the national fund, 549 had their deadlines extended—on average, projects scheduled for 648 days took 1,515 days to complete, a 133 percent time overrun. In some cases, four-year projects dragged on for as long as 14 years.

A similar trend was observed in international funding as well—21 out of 51 projects required extensions, with durations increasing by an average of 52 percent.