Bangladesh is at the top of the list of countries most at risk globally due to climate change. Increasing cyclones, tidal surges, droughts, salinity, and health risks have now become major obstacles to the country’s sustainable development. Keeping this reality in mind, the interim government has proposed an allocation of Tk 1 billion (8.2 million USD) in the proposed budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year to combat the adverse effects of climate change.

On Monday (June 2) afternoon, Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, the interim government’s financial advisor, presented the budget proposal for the 2025-26 fiscal year simultaneously on all television channels in the country, including state broadcaster BTV.

In his budget speech, he said, “To combat the negative effects of climate change, activities such as prevention of air, water, and soil pollution; waste management and environmental development; climate mitigation and adaptation programs; health protection impact analysis; increasing women’s adaptive capacity; coastal ecosystem assessment; and increasing the capacity of the media to achieve climate resilience are being undertaken through the trust fund.”

Salehuddin Ahmed said that this budget has announced the country’s adaptation-oriented activities centered on the Climate Change Trust Fund. The issues that are receiving special importance in this are taking up projects to prevent air and water pollution in urban and rural areas, sustainable agriculture and drinking water systems in coastal areas, ensuring climate justice by increasing the adaptive capacity of women, initiatives to increase the capacity of media and local government institutions, and specific climate protection programs for children, women, and the disabled.

Incidentally, the interim government’s proposed budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year aims to address the country’s economic challenges and achieve stability and growth. This year’s budget brings several important changes, which are different from the budgets of previous years.

The proposed budget size is estimated at Tk 7.90 trillion (64.23 billion USD). This is Tk 7 trillion less than the original budget for the current fiscal year 2024-25 (Tk 7.97 trillion), which is the first time in the history of Bangladesh that the budget size has been reduced.