More than half of Bangladesh's climate fund has been lost to corruption, according to a new study by Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).
Between 2010 and 2024, over $248 million of funds allocated for 891 projects was siphoned off, said the anti-graft watchdog, unveiling the findings of the study at a press briefing at its office today.
During this period, a total of $458.5 million was approved from the national trust. However, political influence and collusion among trustee board members and technical committee members played a major role in project selection and approval, TIB said.
It said BCCT officials, responsible for managing the fund, failed to prevent irregularities.
TIB found widespread delays in project execution. Of the 891 projects reviewed, 62 percent had their durations extended, from nearly two years to more than four years. Some four-year projects took as long as 14 years to finish.
Similar delays were observed in internationally funded projects, where 41 percent of 51 projects were extended, raising their average completion time by 52 percent to 2,978 days, or over eight years.
TIB said Bangladesh requires $12.5 billion annually to tackle climate impacts but has received only $86.2 million a year on average from national and international sources between 2015 and 2023. The amount was just 0.7 percent of the total need.
Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB, said that between 2003 and 2024, the country received only $1.2 billion from foreign sources.
"It is an insignificant amount given the scale of climate losses we face," he said.
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