Tarique Rahman: The making of a 'Green Prime Minister'
Planting 250 million trees, restoring 20,000 kilometres of waterways, and placing climate finance at the core of Bangladesh’s diplomacy, Tarique Rahman is trying to make environmental action a defining feature of his premiership
In a country shaped by rivers, forests and one of the world's largest deltas, environmental policy cannot be treated as a secondary concern. Climate change is already affecting Bangladesh through flooding, cyclones, river erosion, salinity intrusion, extreme heat and changing rainfall patterns.
Therefore, protecting the environment is inseparable from protecting lives, livelihoods, agriculture, public health and economic development.
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman appears to understand this connection. His government has placed environmental restoration and climate resilience near the centre of its policy programme, with ambitious commitments on tree planting, canal excavation, renewable energy, urban pollution, surface-water management and international climate finance.
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This agenda has prompted an emerging description of him as the "Green Prime Minister" of Bangladesh.
We want to brand our prime minister to the world as a 'Green Prime Minister.'
The principal voice behind that title is Dr Md Saimum Parvez, the prime minister's special assistant for environment, forests and climate change. He has not used the expression casually. He has proposed it as an international identity for a government that wants to combine climate diplomacy abroad with measurable environmental action at home.
"We want to brand our prime minister to the world as a 'Green Prime Minister,'" Dr Parvez has said.
He subsequently justified the proposition by explaining "Why we can call our honourable prime minister the Green Prime Minister." His argument rests on the scale of the prime minister's environmental commitments, the prime minister's personal interest in their implementation and the attempt to integrate green policy into the broader development vision of Bangladesh.
Dr Parvez is particularly well placed to explain the thinking behind the government's environmental agenda. In a previous interview with The Business Standard, he described the prime minister's approach in clear terms. "I consider him a visionary leader. His greatest strength is his genuine concern for ordinary people, especially the poor," he said.
He also added, "The prime minister is deeply interested in environmental protection, serious about its implementation and personally determined to bring about meaningful change. The HPM has the political will, personal commitment and genuine desire required to turn environmental promises into lasting results."
That distinction matters. Many governments make environmental announcements on international days or include general language about sustainability in policy documents. But Rahman's emerging green identity is instead being built around specific numerical targets, administrative programmes and deadlines.
Dr Parvez presented this case during a recent episode of the television talk show, in a discussion devoted to climate change and green governance. It was in this expert setting that he advanced the idea of presenting Rahman as the "Green Prime Minister."
The discussion treated the title not simply as a political slogan, but as a description to be evaluated against the government's policies and actions.
The most visible component of Rahman's environmental programme is the commitment to plant 25 crore, or 250 million, trees over five years. This was not left as an election-season promise.
On 13 June, 2026, he formally launched the nationwide programme at the Malumghat Reserve Forest in Cox's Bazar, planting a garjan sapling himself. The initial phase is intended to cover 149 upazilas in 49 districts, with 1.5 crore saplings targeted during that phase.
The programme has several potential environmental benefits. Properly implemented, large-scale planting can expand green cover, protect soil, create habitats, improve urban shade, support biodiversity and strengthen resilience against erosion and extreme weather. Fruit-bearing and medicinal trees can also generate economic and nutritional benefits for communities.
The government has established a dedicated implementation cell and proposed coordination among the environment ministry, local government bodies, educational institutions, the agriculture ministry, the Roads and Highways Department and other agencies.
Rahman's second major environmental commitment is the excavation and re-excavation of 20,000 kilometres of canals, rivers and other waterways. Bangladesh's natural water system has been damaged by encroachment, sedimentation, indiscriminate filling and unplanned construction.
When canals disappear or lose their carrying capacity, cities experience waterlogging, farmers lose access to surface water, groundwater extraction increases and natural drainage systems become less effective.
He has connected canal restoration to environmental protection, agriculture and climate adaptation. The programme is intended to improve drainage, expand irrigation, increase the use of surface water, reduce pressure on groundwater and restore local ecosystems. Work on individual waterways, including the Patli Canal project in Cox's Bazar, has already been inaugurated as part of the wider programme.
The significance of this initiative extends beyond just digging channels. Restored canals can reconnect local water systems, retain monsoon water, reduce waterlogging and support agriculture during dry periods.
They can also help communities adapt to increasingly irregular rainfall. Rahman's environmental agenda consequently links trees with water: one programme restores green cover, while the other seeks to revive the aquatic infrastructure on which Bangladesh's settlements and agricultural economy developed.
The government's environmental vision also includes a "Clean Dhaka, Green Dhaka" agenda. Rahman has announced a 12-point plan covering waste management, urban planting, drainage, waterbody restoration, pollution control, electric mobility, parks and the recovery of roads and public spaces.
The programme envisages planting trees in available urban spaces, improving lakes and rivers, tackling industrial pollution, removing unfit vehicles and encouraging environmentally friendly transport.
Rahman's wider green-development programme has also referred to environmentally responsible industries, the revitalisation of the jute sector, electric vehicles, waste management and an increase in renewable energy's share of national power generation.
At the World Economic Forum, he presented a target of increasing renewable energy to 20% alongside the tree-planting and canal-restoration programmes.
Taken together, these policies broaden the meaning of the "Green Prime Minister" label. It is not based solely on planting trees. It encompasses water security, air quality, transport, energy, industrial development, waste management, biodiversity and climate resilience.
Rahman has also made climate leadership a component of Bangladesh's foreign policy. His first major international tour as prime minister included participation in the 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions of the World Economic Forum in Dalian, widely known as the "Summer Davos."
The event brought together more than 1,700 government representatives, policymakers, business leaders and technology entrepreneurs from over 90 countries.
On the opening day of his World Economic Forum engagements, Rahman met the forum's president and CEO, Alois Zwinggi. The prime minister urged the World Economic Forum to take more coordinated action to support vulnerable delta countries such as Bangladesh and other nations threatened by rising sea levels.
Zwinggi expressed interest in sharing Rahman's experience and policy initiatives with the wider international community to advance global climate action. He also observed that Bangladesh's sustainable-development and climate-resilience initiatives could help attract greater international investment and climate financing.
The following day, Rahman addressed a high-level session titled "Climate Leadership in a Shifting Global Landscape." His message was that vulnerable countries no longer need additional promises alone; they need financing mechanisms that work.
He called for the Climate Loss and Damage Fund to move from commitments to effective implementation, with predictable and accessible support for affected countries.
He also urged the international community to improve vulnerable countries' access to climate finance, strengthen the effectiveness of the Green Climate Fund, expand technology transfer, encourage greater private-sector investment and give adaptation the same level of priority as mitigation.
He reaffirmed his government's commitment to transforming Bangladesh into a climate-resilient nation.
On the sidelines of the conference, Rahman met Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov. Their discussions included renewable energy, climate cooperation and water security. The Kazakh leader sought Bangladesh's support for Kazakhstan's proposal to establish a specialised United Nations agency dedicated to water resources and water diplomacy.
Rahman expressed Bangladesh's support for the initiative, reinforcing the country's commitment to international cooperation on water, climate and environmental security.
These engagements showed that Bangladesh does not intend merely to attend climate conferences. Rahman sought to connect the country's domestic programmes – 250 million trees, 20,000 kilometres of restored waterways and the expansion of renewable energy – with a diplomatic demand for fairer climate finance, stronger international cooperation and greater climate justice for vulnerable countries.
Environmental programmes of this scale cannot succeed through announcements alone. They require regular political attention, inter-ministerial coordination, technical supervision and accountability.
Dr Sheikh Faridul Islam, the state minister for environment, forest and climate change, has said, "The prime minister regularly checks the progress of the Environment Ministry's projects."
The statement is important because it suggests that Rahman is not delegating the entire environmental agenda and then moving on to other priorities. He is seeking updates on implementation and maintaining direct interest in the ministry's work.
This also corresponds with Dr Parvez's account of a prime minister who is personally engaged, serious about environmental issues and determined to produce visible change.
"Green Prime Minister" is not an international award or an official constitutional title. It is an emerging political identity.
Rahman has placed the environment within Bangladesh's domestic development programme and its international diplomatic identity. Dr Parvez has supplied the name for that direction, and the government's policies now provide its foundation.
For a prime minister seeking to restore the country's trees, waterways and ecological resilience while demanding greater climate justice internationally, the description is both persuasive and increasingly appropriate: Tarique Rahman, the Green Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Anonno Afroz is a writer and analyst at The Business Standard.
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.
