Bangladesh cannot adapt its way out of the climate crisis

详细摘要

Bangladesh has done very little to cause climate change. The average Bangladeshi emits about 0.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year—a small fraction of the global average.

Bangladesh has done very little to cause climate change. The average Bangladeshi emits about 0.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year—a small fraction of the global average. Its share of all the CO2 humanity has emitted since the Industrial Revolution is about 0.11 percent. But it pays one of the highest prices: the World Bank estimated in 2021 that up to 1.99 crore Bangladeshis could be forced to move within the country by 2050 because of climate change.

For more than three decades, the world’s response to climate change has rested on two pillars: i) mitigation, which means cutting emissions; and ii) adaptation, which means protecting people from the damage. As delegates meet at COP31 in Antalya, most of the argument is again about money for both. But the data now shows that these two pillars cannot get us out of the crisis.

CO2 in the atmosphere reached about 431 parts per million in June 2026, according to NOAA. Before the Industrial Revolution, it was 280. For 800,000 years, it never rose above 300. Earth is also trapping heat faster than expected: the rate roughly doubled between 2005 and 2019. August 2026 was the hottest month ever recorded. The UN Environment Programme now says overshooting the 1.5-degree-Celsius limit is inevitable.

Think of a bathtub. The tap is still running: humanity is adding over 50 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHGs) every year. The tub is already overflowing, with over a trillion tonnes of excess CO2 in the air. Net zero turns off the tap. Adaptation mops the floor. Neither drains the tub. Even if emissions stopped tomorrow, the carbon already up there would keep the planet hot for centuries.

The world needs a third job: restoration and repair. That means removing CO2 at the scale of billions of tonnes a year and stabilising Earth’s systems that are drifting towards tipping points.

This is the case made in Stabilising Earth’s Systems, a new report from the Climate Crisis Advisory Group. It asks governments to do two things.

Disasters…

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