Bangladesh on Saturday renewed its demand for climate justice from wealthy, high-emitting nations as the Third Climate Justice Assembly 2025 opened at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in Dhaka.
Speakers warned that delays by rich countries in delivering promised climate finance are pushing hundreds of millions of people in climate-vulnerable regions, including Bangladesh, towards an existential crisis.
The two-day assembly, organised by civic platform Dhoritri Rakhhay Amra (DHORA), brought together around 1,500 participants, including government officials, international climate activists, researchers, policymakers and representatives of frontline communities already facing the impacts of climate change.
In her inaugural address, Sharmeen S Murshid, adviser to the Ministries of Social Welfare and Women and Children Affairs, said Bangladesh contributes very little to global carbon emissions yet remains among the worst affected by climate change.
“Bangladesh is one of the frontline countries of climate change. Yet poor countries are suffering the most as the Global North delays action,” she said.
Emphasising historical responsibility, she added, “We are not indebted to them—rather, they are indebted to us. Climate justice is now a matter of accountability and effective action.”
The chief guest at the opening session, Farida Akhter, adviser to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, said climate justice is about “fairness, survival and accountability”.
She criticised the continued global dependence on fossil fuels and said commitments under international agreements, including the Paris Climate Accord, remain largely unfulfilled. “The Global North often offers loans instead of justice,” she said.
The session was chaired by Dr Mujibur Rahman Howlader, convener of the organising committee, and moderated by Sharif Jamil, member secretary of DHORA. Sanjeeb Drong, general secretary of the Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum, delivered the welcome remarks, highlighting the disproportionate impact of climate change on Indigenous and marginalised communities.
Speaking at the event, Sharif Jamil said climate justice is not just a political demand for Bangladesh but a matter of national survival.
“If we cannot ensure justice within our own country, we will not be able to effectively demand justice at the global level,” he said.
International speakers also criticised wealthy nations for failing to meet their climate finance and fossil fuel phase-out commitments.
Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), called for a faster global transition away from fossil fuels and increased grant-based climate finance for vulnerable countries. She warned that debt-driven climate finance mechanisms are deepening inequality rather than solving the crisis.
Asad Rehman, chief executive of Friends of the Earth, said it is morally indefensible to shift the financial burden of the climate crisis onto countries that did not cause it.
“Through debt and repayments, money continues to flow from the Global South to the Global North, costing the South trillions of dollars every year,” he said. “Forcing those least responsible to pay for this crisis is not only unjust—it is obscene.”
Cynan Houghton, deputy regional programme director of the TARA Climate Foundation, said the era of accepting pollution as the cost of development must end.
She said renewable energy offers a viable and justice-based alternative, noting that solar-powered cities supported by battery storage can be both productive and socially inclusive.
Participants said climate change is already severely affecting Bangladesh’s agriculture, fisheries, food security and livelihoods, particularly in coastal and riverine areas.
Ahead of the assembly, more than a thousand national and international climate activists joined a rally from the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University campus through Agargaon to the conference venue, demanding accountability from global polluters and urgent action to protect climate-vulnerable countries.