The private sector has to play the most important role in mitigating the challenges of climate change, she said.

Khatun said this while addressing participants at the event to launch a programme titled ‘Securing Green Transition of the Textile and Readymade Garments Sector in Bangladesh’ of CPD in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden in Bangladesh.

The objective of the programme is to contribute towards the enhancement of environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral growth in the country with productive employment opportunities for women and youth.

It will explore barriers to green transformation, review existing fiscal measures, identify best practices suitable for green transformation and build up evidence on how green transition in this industry will generate new opportunities to benefit firms, workers, economy and the society, according to a CPD release.

Following Bangladesh’s graduation from the least developed country (LDC) category in 2026, Bangladesh will need to comply with stringent compliance requirement in many areas including environment to remain competitive.

Lack of awareness, knowledge and skills and buyers not agreeing to pay a premium for green products are some of the other challenges, she said.

Besides, small and medium-sized factories or those in tier-2 and -3 cities may not be in a position to make investment for green production process. To overcome the challenges, attention needs to be shifted to issues such as re-skilling and up-skilling the labour force; strengthening of policies including pollution control policies, resource efficiency and cleaner production policies, energy management policies, and chemical waste management policies; accessing and mobilising finance, she added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)