By Faridat Salifu
Bangladesh is seeking to overcome one of the major barriers to accessing international climate finance by building a pipeline of projects that can move from climate priorities to bankable investments.
A five-day Climate Finance Leadership Incubation Lab in Gazipur has produced 35 project concepts covering mitigation, adaptation, resilience and climate insurance, as the country works to strengthen its ability to secure financing from the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
The programme, held from August 9 to 13 at BRAC CDM in Rajendrapur, brought together about 35 professionals from 23 organisations across government, development institutions, banking, academia, research, civil society and the media.
The initiative was organised by the International Climate Finance Cell (ICFC) of the Economic Relations Division under the Ministry of Finance, with financial and technical support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Rather than treating climate finance as a theoretical subject, the programme required participants to develop actual project concepts and test whether their ideas could satisfy the requirements of an international climate finance institution.
Participants were guided through the GCF concept note process, including climate rationale, project design, financing structures, country ownership, environmental and social safeguards, risk assessment, sustainability and transformational impact.
The exercise culminated in pitches of the 35 concepts before mentors and evaluators, with 10 projects receiving recognition comprising three Diamond, three Gold and four Silver awards.
However, organisers said recognition did not mean the projects had secured or would automatically receive GCF financing.
The concepts will require further development, including stronger evidence, clearer financing structures, detailed risk assessments and demonstration of their potential climate impact, before they can potentially enter Bangladesh’s formal project pipeline.
AKM Sohel, additional secretary and UN Wing chief at the Economic Relations Division, said the initiative was aimed at creating a pool of professionals capable of converting climate priorities into proposals that international financing institutions can assess and potentially support.
He urged participants to understand how the GCF evaluates projects and to communicate their proposals using the fund’s investment logic.
“Go to GCF literature and talk in the GCF language,” Sohel told participants.
He said project developers must demonstrate not only that a development challenge exists but also why it is a climate problem, what intervention is required and why climate finance is necessary.
The emphasis reflects a wider challenge facing developing countries seeking international climate finance: climate vulnerability alone does not automatically translate into an investable project.
Dr Shah Abdul Saadi, joint secretary at the Economic Relations Division and course coordinator of the lab, said projects must demonstrate genuine climate benefits rather than simply attaching climate terminology to conventional development initiatives.
He said project developers should begin by identifying climate-related emissions and vulnerabilities before designing interventions to reduce risks and strengthen resilience.
“The critical question is whether we are genuinely reducing vulnerability and strengthening resilience, or simply making a climate claim without delivering the intended results,” Saadi said.
He said Bangladesh would also need to mobilise domestic and local resources rather than depending entirely on international climate finance.
“We also need to mobilise domestic and local resources and, importantly, invest in locally developed innovations and technologies that respond to the realities of vulnerable communities,” he said.
Saadi said solutions must also reflect local conditions, arguing that technologies should be informed by science while remaining relevant to the communities expected to use them.
He also stressed the importance of institutional ownership, saying climate projects often involve several government sectors and therefore require clear responsibility for implementation and results.
“Sectoral ownership is the bottom line,” Saadi said.
Juel Mahmud, GCF Liaison Officer at the Economic Relations Division, said many of the ideas developed by participants were promising but warned that a good climate idea was not enough to secure international financing.
He urged project developers to examine existing programmes before designing new projects to avoid duplication and establish what additional value their proposals would deliver.
“Before developing a project concept, it is important to review existing activities and initiatives so that the proposal does not duplicate ongoing work and can clearly demonstrate its added value,” Mahmud said.
He said proposals must also clearly establish their climate rationale, expected impacts, technical feasibility, financial feasibility and investment potential.
The programme therefore placed financing at the centre of project development, requiring participants to examine the amount of funding needed, the appropriate combination of grants and non-grant instruments, co-financing opportunities and the justification for seeking GCF resources.
Mentors also guided participants on financial terms, governance arrangements, the roles of Accredited Entities and Executing Entities and the risks associated with proposed projects.
The exercise was designed to address a critical weakness in climate finance mobilisation: the distance between identifying a climate problem and developing a proposal that financiers can actually evaluate.
A community may face flooding, drought, water insecurity or other climate risks, but accessing international funding requires those challenges to be translated into a structured intervention with measurable outcomes, credible implementation arrangements, financial requirements and evidence of climate additionality.
Dr Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, a former member of the GCF Independent Technical Advisory Panel, said developing such proposals was difficult but achievable with continued learning and mentoring.
He said the programme had created an opportunity for professionals from different sectors to combine their knowledge and develop stronger climate finance concepts.
“This is a very important opportunity for you. We are learning from each other and sharing our knowledge and experience,” Ahmed said.
He said younger climate professionals now have access to extensive scientific research, climate data and policy knowledge but would need to develop specialised expertise to navigate the growing volume of climate information.
“Writing a strong concept note is difficult, but it is achievable. You have to trust your ability and continue developing your knowledge,” Ahmed said.
The programme brought together professionals working in economic relations, disaster management, environment and climate change, agriculture, fisheries, livestock, local government infrastructure, banking, finance and water modelling.
Organisers said the cross-sector composition was intended to strengthen the institutional ownership of future climate projects because successful climate interventions often require cooperation between technical, financial, policy and implementation institutions.
The programme’s five-day process ended with participants pitching their concepts, allowing evaluators to assess not only the technical content but also the ability of project developers to explain their climate problem, proposed solution, financing requirements and expected results.
Ten concepts were recognised, but organisers said the larger objective was to create a continuing pool of professionals capable of developing projects that can eventually compete for international climate finance.
Sohel said the ICFC plans to hold another incubation programme in December for about 40 participants.
He also said participants from the first cohort would receive continued mentoring with support from the ADB, with stronger concepts potentially refined for consideration in Bangladesh’s climate finance project pipeline.
For Bangladesh, the next challenge will therefore be turning the 35 concepts developed during the incubation programme into projects with sufficient evidence, financial credibility and implementation capacity to move beyond the concept stage.
The success of the initiative will ultimately depend not on how many concepts were produced or awarded, but on how many can progress through the country’s project pipeline and eventually secure financing for climate action.
Source : The climate watch
