The Bangladesh version of the 2050 Calculator was launched in Dhaka at the beginning of January. The project was funded by the International Climate Fund support for the outreach work of the 2050 team.
Every 2050 international outreach cooperation is unique and poses its own challenges. The Bangladesh project stood out, because it is the only LDC ("Least Developed Country") that we have been cooperating with. The starting point of the BD2050 team to conduct energy and emission analysis could not be starker than what we faced when embarking on the development of the UK Calculator in 2009. Income and energy use per head in Bangladesh is a tenth of the UK average, emissions per head are roughly a twentieth and growth stands at 6% per annum. The picture provides some good examples, how alone the transport system significantly varies from ours (although same red double-deckers!).
The BD2050 team was led by Dr Monjur Mourshed from Cardiff University and worked in close cooperation with government and academic experts in Dhaka. They overcame these challenges by adjusting the underlying dynamics of the 2050 Calculator model significantly. Population, GDP growth rates and food intake are provided as flexible scenarios, rather than fixed. The coal sector is tackled separately with options around number of power-stations as well as their efficiency. The electricity chart indicates a shortfall increasing over the coming decades – and the user can by clicking on supply technologies reduce this potential shortfall.
To our knowledge this is the first open-source energy and emissions model of Bangladesh. We hope that like many other Calculators, it will contribute towards an informed debate on some pivotal decisions the country needs to take over the coming decades.