The Prime Minister’s carbon credit push must build a community-led climate economy

On 5 July, 2026, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman chaired a meeting on climate change and directed the authorities to prepare an action plan to increase Bangladesh's carbon credits by reducing emissions and making better use of the international carbon market.

He also stressed the need for transparency, a reliable national database, renewable energy expansion, greener industries and stronger coordination with international organisations.

This is a timely direction. Bangladesh has long been known as one of the world's most climate-vulnerable countries. It must now also become known as a country capable of developing credible, community-led and financially viable climate solutions.

Carbon credits can be part of that future, but only when they are based on genuine emission reductions, ecosystem protection and clear benefits for local communities.

The government already has several important climate programmes. In the FY2026–27 budget, it announced a nationwide plan to plant 25 crore trees over five years.

The programme includes planting along roads, embankments, rivers and canals; restoring government forest areas; creating mangrove forests on coastal chars; and expanding agroforestry, homestead planting and urban forestry.

Under the "One Child, One Tree" programme, one crore trees are to be planted at the homes and homesteads of government primary school students. The budget also proposes GPS- and GIS-based forest data and a Tree Monitoring App to improve accountability.

These are promising measures. However, success should not be measured by the number of saplings planted on the first day. It should be measured by how many remain alive after five years.

Each tree planted by a student should have a named caretaker, a locally sourced sapling, a survival record and a simple incentive system. Schools, unions and wards maintaining high survival rates could receive recognition or additional support.

School eco-clubs, youth volunteers, women's groups and local government representatives could help verify plantation records. Technology can track a tree, but only community stewardship can keep it alive.

The same principle should guide carbon trading.

The budget says 50 percent of coastal mangrove forests will be brought under carbon-trading mechanisms. It also proposes new projects under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which allows countries to cooperate in reducing emissions and trading verified carbon reductions.

This could become an important source of climate finance for Bangladesh. Mangroves do much more than store carbon. They act as barriers against storms, provide breeding grounds for fish, protect biodiversity and support coastal livelihoods.

However, carbon markets depend on trust. A carbon credit must represent an emission reduction or removal that can be measured and verified. It must also be additional, meaning it would not have happened without the project, and it must not harm local people or ecosystems.

Community participation is therefore not optional.

Bangladesh's Carbon Market Framework requires project documents to be published and opened to public comments and stakeholder consultation. It also connects carbon projects with sustainable development, environmental and social safeguards, benefit-sharing and institutional oversight.

These requirements should be applied from the beginning of every project, rather than after technical plans have already been completed.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman chaired a meeting on climate change and directed the authorities to prepare an action plan to increase Bangladesh’s carbon credits by reducing emissions and making better use of the international carbon market on 5 July 2026. Photo: PMO

Before approving a mangrove carbon project, the authorities should conduct participatory mapping of fishing routes, crab collection areas, honey collection practices, farmland, forest-dependent households, women's livelihood groups and local environmental risks.

Each project should publish a benefit-sharing plan in Bangla, establish a local grievance desk, include community representatives in monitoring teams and clearly disclose how much carbon revenue will return to the area.

Carbon trading should not appear to be a system in which outsiders measure trees and sell credits. Coastal communities should be fairly rewarded for protecting the ecosystems that protect Bangladesh.

The government's canal excavation and re-excavation programme also needs this people-centred approach.

The budget includes canal excavation in the southern region to reduce salinity in agricultural land and support climate adaptation. It also proposes safe water supplies, sustainable embankments, riverbank protection and cyclone shelters in coastal areas.

Canal excavation should not be treated only as an engineering project. Farmers know where water used to flow. Fishers know when a canal begins to lose its aquatic life. Women know which water sources become unsafe. Traders know where waste and drainage blockages disrupt local markets.

This knowledge should be included in canal mapping, excavation, waste management and long-term maintenance.

The government should introduce a national climate stewardship model to connect communities, local governments, ministries, private investors, project developers, certification bodies and civil society organisations.

Under such a model, communities would not be treated merely as beneficiaries. They would be recognised as long-term stewards of forests, canals, wetlands and mangroves.

The model should be practical. It could include local stewardship committees, community monitoring teams, public disclosure boards, annual social audits, grievance mechanisms, consultations focused on women and young people, and legally clear benefit-sharing agreements.

A fixed portion of carbon revenue, eco-tourism income or other project earnings should be placed in community funds. These funds could support safe drinking water, education, cyclone preparedness, local businesses and ecosystem maintenance.

Community participation must also be connected with livelihoods. Climate initiatives last when people can see how they will improve their lives.

In coastal areas, mangrove restoration could support eco-tourism, responsible honey collection, crab fattening, fish nurseries, salt-tolerant farming, floating agriculture and the production of golpata goods, soap, beeswax candles, herbal products, dry fish and handicrafts.

In coastal areas, mangrove restoration could support eco-tourism, responsible honey collection, crab fattening, fish nurseries, salt-tolerant farming, floating agriculture and the production of golpata goods, soap, beeswax candles, herbal products, dry fish and handicrafts.

Restored canals could improve irrigation, fisheries, vegetable farming and access to local markets. Plantation programmes could create work for nurseries, compost producers, seed collectors, community forest guards and youth monitoring groups.

Such opportunities can gradually transform local livelihoods.

A family that once depended on risky forest extraction could earn money from eco-tourism, homestays, honey processing or local products. A women's group could produce soap, candles, pickles or handicrafts under a climate-friendly local brand. 

A youth group could manage digital monitoring, guide visitors and organise waste collection. Farmers could move towards salt-tolerant or water-efficient crops.

When climate projects create income, dignity and local enterprise, communities become active protectors of nature rather than passive recipients of project assistance.

Bangladesh can also learn from international and local experience.

Mikoko Pamoja in Kenya is widely recognised as the world's first community-based blue carbon project to sell credits from mangrove conservation and restoration. Its income has supported community services, including clean water and education.

Indonesia's Karangsong mangrove area demonstrates how restoration can be combined with community management, eco-tourism and visitor income. Studies suggest that cooperation between the government and local communities has helped the area attract more than 50,000 visitors a year.

Bangladesh also has relevant experience. In the Sundarbans region, programmes have helped vulnerable women, including tiger widows, earn money from responsibly produced honey, juice, pickles and handicrafts. These initiatives can reduce pressure on the forest while creating safer sources of income.

Bangladesh should adapt these lessons to local needs.

A blue carbon project in Satkhira, Khulna or Cox's Bazar should not only calculate how much carbon mangroves store. It should also support honey cooperatives, eco-tourism routes, women-led processing centres, local product branding, climate-resilient agriculture and village conservation funds.

Similarly, a canal restoration project should do more than remove silt. It should restore water flow, reduce waterlogging, protect agriculture, revive fisheries and establish a community-based maintenance system.

The prime minister's call to reduce emissions and increase carbon credits should therefore be treated as more than an instruction on carbon trading. It is an opportunity to build a new climate economy in which public policy, community stewardship, private finance and local livelihoods work together.

Bangladesh's climate future will not be built through policy documents alone. It will be built by students caring for trees, farmers protecting canals, fishers guarding mangroves, women leading local enterprises, young people monitoring data and local governments connecting national policies with local realities.

Climate action should not be imposed on communities or designed only for them. It must be undertaken with them.

That is how a planted sapling becomes a forest, an excavated canal becomes a lifeline, a carbon credit becomes a community dividend and climate policy becomes everyday resilience.

Sketch: TBS

Hasibul Islam Rafi is a Climate and Development Practitioner and a former International Consultant for UNDP Asia and the Pacific.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.