Can Tarique make world pay?

Why should a nation contributing barely half a per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions borrow billions of dollars to survive a catastrophe largely created by the world's biggest polluters? Why should those responsible escape accountability while the most vulnerable pay the price?

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is taking this uncomfortable question to the world's climate power brokers at COP31 in Türkiye, with a blunt message: Bangladesh wants grants, not loans; climate justice, not empty promises; and accountability, not diplomatic assurances from major carbon emitters.

His participation in the November 11-12 World Leaders' Summit in Antalya places Bangladesh's vulnerability and demand for debt-free climate financing at the centre of an increasingly contentious global debate. The message is clear: countries least responsible for global warming must not be pushed further into debt to protect their people from its devastating consequences.

The stakes could hardly be higher. Despite contributing less than 0.50 per cent of global emissions, Bangladesh remains among the world's most climate-vulnerable countries. Rising sea levels, destructive cyclones, recurrent floods, river erosion, coastal salinity, droughts and extreme heat threaten millions of lives and livelihoods.

Climate change is no longer merely an environmental concern; it is a growing threat to national economic security, food production, industrial  competitiveness and development.Bangladesh faces estimated annual economic losses of around $15.2 billion from climate impacts. The World Bank estimates that climate variability and extreme weather could put one-third of agricultural GDP at risk by 2050, while an estimated 13.3 million people could become internal climate migrants.

Salinity is crippling agriculture, floods and cyclones ravaging infrastructure, and extreme heat eroding productivity across key industries, including garments. Climate-driven displacement is further straining urban jobs, housing and public services. The injustice is stark: Bangladesh must spend billions to defend its economy and protect its people from a crisis it barely helped create, while the world's major polluters continue debating who should foot the bill. Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoohas said Dhaka will press for increased grant-based financing, stronger adaptation commitments, easier access to climate funds and greater support for loss and damage and accountability from major carbon emitters. 

Yet global pledges remain woefully inadequate. At COP29 in Baku, developed countries agreed to lead efforts to mobilise at least $300 billion annually for developing nations by 2035, within a broader target of raising climate finance from all sources to $1.3 trillion a year.Developing countries need an estimated $305 billion annually for adaptation alone, while international adaptation finance from developed countries reached only $28.2 billion in 2024, according to a Reuters report.

More troubling is the growing reliance on loans. Countries already suffering climate-related economic losses should not be forced to repay borrowed money to confront a crisis largely created elsewhere. Grants, concessional loans and commercial lending must be clearly distinguished. Climate finance must not become another instrument for deepening the debt burden of vulnerable economies.

The politics of carbon emissions further complicates the challenge. Major industrial economies continue prioritising energy security, economic competitiveness and geopolitical interests, often undermining their climate commitments. Governments promise emission cuts but hesitate when these threaten domestic industries, investment and employment. Meanwhile, vulnerable nations bear the consequences.

The Paris Agreement's ambition to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is increasingly under threat. Adaptation alone cannot save Bangladesh if global emissions continue rising. Major emitters must deliver measurable emission reductions while providing vulnerable countries with finance, affordable technology and technical support.

Tarique's challenge is to turn Bangladesh's moral argument into diplomatic leverage. Working with the Least Developed Countries Group, G77 and China, and other climate-vulnerable nations, Dhaka must press for predictable, additional grants, a stronger Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, simplified access to climate finance and meaningful technology transfers. Private investment and carbon markets must supplement, not replace, public funding.

But international demands must be matched by credible action at home. The National Adaptation Plan, Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 and NDC 3.0 offer important policy foundations. Their success will depend on implementation, adequate financing and accountability. Coastal embankments, cyclone shelters, flood-control systems, climate-smart agriculture, freshwater management, afforestation and renewable energy require sustained investment.

The transition to a low-carbon economy must also protect workers, women, young people and low-income communities. Environmental reforms should not come at the expense of jobs, incomes or industrial competitiveness.

Ultimately, COP31 must be judged not by speeches and declarations but by money delivered, emissions reduced and vulnerable communities protected. For Tarique Rahman, the summit offers an opportunity to make Bangladesh a stronger voice for climate justice. But rhetoric alone will not suffice; he must help build an international coalition capable of turning promises into financial and environmental action. For the world's richest and biggest polluting economies, the question is whether they are prepared to accept responsibility for the damage they have helped create.

Bangladesh is not asking for charity. It is demanding fairness. A nation should not have to borrow its way out of a disaster it barely helped create. The world must now decide whether climate justice is a genuine international commitment-or merely another promise made while the planet burns.