If Bangladesh is to align with an emerging global consensus on moving away from fossil fuels, it must ensure that its own transition pathways are equitable, participatory and gender-responsive, writes Farah Kabir

THE climate crisis is accelerating, yet public support for climate action is fraying under the weight of rising living costs and deepening economic insecurity. Around the world, people are being asked to shoulder transitions they neither designed nor meaningfully benefit from. If climate policies continue to ignore everyday realities, especially those of women, workers and marginalised communities, resistance is not only inevitable but also justified.

This is where the idea of a ‘just transition’ was meant to change the script: placing people, rights and livelihoods at the centre of climate action. But new research from ActionAid shows how far rhetoric has drifted from reality.

The numbers are stark. Just 2.8 per cent of multilateral climate mitigation finance — roughly $630m over more than a decade — has gone towards supporting just transitions. That is one dollar in every 35. Fewer than 2 per cent of projects funded by major climate funds meaningfully engage workers, women or communities. In practice, the ‘just transition’ risks becoming little more than a slogan: invoked in speeches, absent in delivery.

This failure is not gender neutral. Women, particularly in the global south, are disproportionately affected by both climate breakdown and poorly designed transitions. They are more likely to bear the burden of unpaid care work, face systemic barriers to land, finance and technology, and remain excluded from decision-making spaces. When climate policies overlook these inequalities, they reinforce them. A transition that sidelines women is not just unjust; it is structurally unsound and ultimately less effective.

At the same time, the industries most responsible for the crisis — fossil fuels and industrial agriculture — continue to expand. The world edges ever closer to breaching the 1.5°C threshold envisioned under the Paris Agreement, exposing the deep inadequacy of current efforts. Climate finance systems, instead of correcting course, are compounding the problem: underfunding people-centred solutions while enabling business-as-usual.

The imbalance is almost absurd. More has been spent on a single billionaire’s super yacht than on just transition efforts across the global south. It is a stark illustration of political priorities and of whose futures are being valued and whose are being deferred.

If climate action is to succeed, this must change. Wealthy, high-emitting countries must deliver grant-based public finance at the scale required — not loans, not offsets, not market-based substitutes that deepen debt and inequality. Multilateral funds must move beyond partial commitments on paper and embed just transition principles into how projects are designed, financed and evaluated, with real accountability to communities on the frontlines. Institutions that consistently fail to meet these standards must be reformed or, where necessary, phased out.

At the national level, governments must move beyond narrow energy targets. Phasing out fossil fuels and harmful industrial agriculture must go hand in hand with investments in renewable energy, agro-ecology, social protection, public services and decent work. Crucially, transitions must be participatory — shaped by workers, women and communities, not imposed upon them. This means reskilling programmes that are accessible to women, social protection systems that recognise unpaid care work and policy frameworks that guarantee labour rights and community consent.

These debates are no longer theoretical. Following the momentum of COP28, where governments agreed to ‘transition away from fossil fuels’, attention is shifting to how this commitment will be implemented. The Santa Marta Conference in Colombia that begins today marks an important shift: from negotiating ambition to advancing concrete, evidence-based pathways for delivery.

For Bangladesh, the stakes could hardly be higher. As a climate-vulnerable country facing mounting energy pressures and foreign exchange constraints linked to fuel imports, continued dependence on fossil fuels risks locking in both economic fragility and environmental harm. Yet Bangladesh also brings valuable experience — from community-led adaptation to decentralised renewable energy — that can help shape more grounded and equitable transition pathways.

While Bangladesh is not participating in Santa Marta as a state party, its presence through civil society reflects a different, but no less important, form of engagement. Across the global south, it is often grassroots movements, feminist organisations and labour groups that have driven the demand for justice in climate action and exposed the gaps between promise and practice.

That Bangladesh’s voice will be heard primarily through these channels is both a strength and a signal. It underscores the vitality of its civil society but also highlights the risk that critical perspectives from frontline countries remain underrepresented in formal decision-making spaces where alliances, financing priorities and policy directions are shaped.

Engagement in Santa Marta, even outside formal state structures, is therefore not symbolic. It is a strategic opportunity for Bangladeshi civil society to shape narratives, build alliances and push for financing and policy frameworks that reflect lived realities. It also creates space to bring feminist perspectives — too often marginalised — into the centre of global transition debates.

At the same time, this moment should prompt reflection at home. If Bangladesh is to align with an emerging global consensus on moving away from fossil fuels, it must ensure that its own transition pathways are equitable, participatory and gender-responsive. That means embedding just transition principles into national planning — not as an afterthought, but as a foundation.

A just transition cannot remain an empty promise. It must be financed, implemented and owned by those it is meant to serve. The findings from ActionAid are a warning; but they are also a call to act with urgency and integrity.

Bangladesh may not be at the formal table in Santa Marta. But it cannot afford to be absent from shaping what comes next.

Farah Kabir is country director, ActionAid Bangladesh.