StanChart joins climate summit as sustainable investment partner

Standard Chartered Bangladesh joined the Regional Climate Summit 2023 as the programme's sustainable investment partner.
The overarching theme for this year's event was "Towards a Resilient South Asia" - driving dialogue, consensus, and commitment towards sustainable and scalable development while placing a focus on regional cooperation.
The Regional Climate Summit -- the first to be hosted in Bangladesh -- was organised by the Climate Parliament Bangladesh, The Earth Society, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), and the Climate Parliament at a city hotel recently, says a press release.
The Regional Climate Summit 2023 brought together hundreds of policymakers, diplomats, experts, academics, researchers, community members, and senior stakeholders from both private and public sector organisations.
Senior leaders from Standard Chartered also served as panellists over the course of the three-day programme.
A key area of discussion was the need for climate adaptation. As part of the panel on "Strengthening Resilience: Addressing Climate Impacts, Loss and Damage, and Locally-led Adaptation," Bitopi Das Chowdhury, Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand & Marketing, Standard Chartered Bangladesh, commented, "An investment of USD 1.2 billion between now and 2030 -- to help Bangladesh in our journey to adapt to climate change -- has the ability to offset projected damages and lost GDP growth of USD11.6 billion. It is critical that we urgently recognise that adaptation is a shared necessity. The Adaptation Economy, a study conducted by Standard Chartered, effectively highlights that inaction creates a shared societal burden of exponentially increasing cost."
During the summit, another thematic area was "Equity and Justice in Access to Climate Finance: International and Regional Perspective."
During this panel, Enamul Huque, Managing Director and Head of Client Coverage, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking, Standard Chartered Bangladesh, said, "The communities who are most vulnerable to climate change are not necessarily the ones receiving the most funds. Leveraging innovative and sustainablefinancing instruments -- such as green bonds, blue bonds, and sustainability-linked loans -- can be an answer to addressing this disparity."
This year's Regional Climate Summit -- the first to be hosted in Bangladesh -- was organised by the Climate Parliament Bangladesh, The Earth Society, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), and the Climate Parliament.