Turn Climate Promises Real for Frontline Nations

We warmly welcome Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s five point proposal at COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye. By placing fairness, grant based financing and debt relief at the centre of the global climate conversation, he has raised a demand that wealthy nations can no longer ignore. 

Consider the reality our people live with every day. Bangladesh produces less than half a per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet we pay a steep price every year through battered coastlines, encroaching salinity and vanishing riverbanks. Against this backdrop, asking for grants rather than new loans is absolutely not diplomatic posturing. Rather, it raises a basic question of fairness and survival. 

Too often, ambitious and promising speeches at international summits fail to help frontline nations. The PM’s five point plan offers a practical way to fix this broken system. First, dedicating at least half of all international climate finance to adaptation initiatives would finally give vulnerable countries the means to protect farms, homes and embankments before disasters strike. Second, introducing debt relief instruments such as climate resilient debt clauses and debt for climate swaps would stop global lenders from trapping storm hit economies deeper in debt. 

Third, developing nations need fair and equitable access to environmentally friendly climate technologies rather than facing steep patent barriers. Fourth, a just energy transition requires affordable financing and genuine skills development so working people can thrive in a cleaner economy. And fifth, adopting the proposed Belém Antalya Action Mechanism at COP31 would place fair financing and trade at the very heart of global climate cooperation.

Of course, a strong voice abroad must go hand in hand with honest, visible work at home. The government’s domestic roadmap sets clear goals, including generating 20 per cent of electricity from renewable by 2030, planting 250 million trees over five years, and re-excavating 20,000 kilometres of rivers and canals. Alongside coastal mangrove restoration and 300 green certified garment factories, these efforts show that economic progress and care for nature can strengthen one another. 

Past river dredging and tree planting programmes have faltered due to corruption, weak oversight and bureaucratic delays. For this plan to succeed, local communities must hold a real stake. At the same time, public funds must remain open to scrutiny. Also, projects must stay free from middlemen and waste.

Ultimately, history will not judge COP31 by conference hall applause, but by what changes on the ground. Wealthy nations should back these five proposals with real grants and clean technology, while our own government must ensure every taka and dollar reaches the farmers, coastal families and urban workers facing daily climate loss.