About 83 per cent of the investments by the Asian Development Bank in electricity generation since 1973 has gone into building fossil fuel-based power plants in Bangladesh, revealed an analysis of ADB data.
Over the period, $4.8 billion was spent for building 2,884.8 megawatts of electricity generation capacity, the analysis revealed.
鈥極nly 2.55 per cent has been directed to solar energy, with no investment in wind power,鈥� said Rayyan Hassan, executive director of the NGO Forum on ADB, the organisation that came up with the analysis.
For the installation of a MW of fossil fuel-based power generation capacity, the ADB invested $2.04 million, followed by $0.51 million invested in solar capacity, said the NGO Forum on ADB, an Asian-led network of over 250 civil society organisations.
The analysis report was unveiled at a press conference at the Rupayan Trade Center in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday ahead of the annual general meeting of the ADB early next month.
Along with the NGO Forum on ADB, the press conference was organised by the Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network, a non-government organisation.
The ADB is a leading multilateral development bank, which was established with an agenda of facilitating development in countries.
鈥楢DB investments suffer from lack of transparency as its projects often hid information required for an objective assessment of their contribution to developing Asian nations,鈥� said Sarmin Bristy, fossil fuel campaigner at the NGO Forum on ADB.
Since 1973, the ADB has invested $17.34 billion in 106 projects in the energy sector.
Besides building fossil fuel power plants, the energy sector investments went into constructing transmission and distribution lines, which predominantly facilitated fossil fuel expansion, energy efficiency projects and technical assistance.
Technical assistance supported formulating energy and power master plans that paved the way for fossil fuel boom in Bangladesh, revealed the analysis.
About 65 per cent of the ADB projects, involving the investment of $11.36 billion, lack any safeguard classification, the analysis said, while the bank categorised about 8 per cent of the rest of the investment as highly risky for the environment.
Only 0.35 per cent or $60.58 million of the investment was allocated for resettlement and ethnic minority people鈥檚 safeguard.
Of the overall ADB investment so far, the analysis said, about $4 billion worth investment was made after the emergence of the Paris Agreement, mostly to bankroll fossil fuel projects.
The ADB investment went more into the public sector than the private sector. During the past Awami League regime before its fall on August 5, 2024, the government had invested $33 billion in the power sector alone.
Hasan Mehedi, chief executive of CLEAN, said that the recent ADB investments created an economic burden for Bangladesh.
鈥業n the past 11 years, Bangladesh paid Tk聽1,824 crore in capacity charge for the Khulna 225MW power plant, which operated at an average plant factor of 27 per cent, which was inevitable for it was built on the assumption of gas supply that did not occur in reality,鈥� he said.
Over the rest of its lifetime until 2036, the power plant would need Tk 4,200 crore more in capacity charge, said Mehedi.
The press conference called for an urgent overhaul of the ADB鈥檚 policies in favour of just and equitable energy transition to meet climate goals.