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Dhaka Tuesday,  Mar 19, 2024

USAID to launch project to promote clean energy

Daily Star:

USAID will soon launch a multi-year project with allocation of up to $17 million to promote clean energy, said the US embassy yesterday, a day after US President’s Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry’s visit to Dhaka.

The project titled “Bangladesh Advancing Development and Growth through Energy” will work to expand Bangladeshis’ access to affordable clean energy, support clean energy entrepreneurship, foster transparent and efficient energy markets, and advance innovation.

“It [project] is also critical to curbing the country’s carbon emissions, which nearly quadrupled over the past two decades. Not only will it reduce emissions, but will also improve living standards for the people of Bangladesh and will support continued rapid economic growth,” the statement said.

For more than two decades, USAID has helped Bangladesh transform the country’s energy sector and protect its natural resources, including more than 2.5 million acres of wetlands and forest areas, which contain habitats for the iconic Bengal tiger in the Sundarbans, it added.

John Kerry was in Dhaka to invite Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to attend the Leaders’ Summit on Climate to be hosted by Joe Biden on April 22-23.

At least 40 world leaders from major economies and climate vulnerable countries will attend the summit, ahead of COP26, which is scheduled to be held in Glasgow, UK in November this year.

US’ return to Paris Agreement, from which the former president Donald Trump pulled out, generated hopes among scientists and world leaders to protect the world from climate change.

John Kerry on Friday told reporters in Dhaka that the US will pay $2 billion to the Green Climate Fund and will play leadership role in mobilising $100 billion annually for the fund meant to promote mitigation and adaptation.

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