Bangladesh made no progress in transitioning to clean energy

Bangladesh slid two notches down to 97th out of 115 countries on the global Energy Transition Index 2021, which means it has made no progress in moving to clean energy.

It is the second from the bottom among 13 emerging and developing Asian nations, only ahead of Mongolia.    

Malaysia ranked 39th globally and topped in the region, followed by Thailand at 55th, and Vietnam at 65th.

The top performer in South Asia is Sri Lanka, ranking 69th, while India secured 87th position followed by Nepal at 92nd. 

In South Asia, Bangladesh is only ahead of Pakistan that ranked 104th on the index published by Geneva-based World Economic Forum on Wednesday along with a report titled "Fostering Effective Energy Transition 2021".

Bangladesh's position was 95th in 2020, 101st in 2019 and 100th in 2018.

Currently, the country's total power generation capacity is above 25,171 MW whereas the renewable energy installed capacity (including hydro and off-grid solar power) is only 724.11 MW.

The index benchmarks 115 countries on the current performance of their energy systems across three dimensions -- economic development and growth, environmental sustainability, and energy security and access indicators – and their readiness to transition to secure, sustainable, affordable, and inclusive energy systems. 

The overall score is composed of two subindices: energy system performance and transition readiness.

This year's results showed that 92 out of 115 countries increased their aggregate score over the past 10 years, which affirms the positive direction and steady momentum of the global energy transition, the Forum said.

Bangladesh achieved an overall score of 50.44 out of 100 this year, up from 46.93 in 2012. But the 2020 score was 51.14, which was higher than this year.

Bangladesh's performance on two subindices

Bangladesh has scored low in terms of transition readiness but it managed to improve its score slightly from 41.5 in 2020 to 41.8 in 2021.

Bangladesh considerably scored higher in energy system performance. However, the country's overall score dropped this year due to poor performance of its energy systems.

In the energy system performance sub-index, Bangladesh's score fell to 59.07 this year from 60.74 in 2020, triggered by economic development and growth dimension.

The economic development and growth dimension tracks the affordability, competitiveness and fiscal implications of the energy sector.

Nordic countries, including Sweden, Norway and Denmark, have maintained their leading positions, driven by strong progress in environmental sustainability.

Head of Energy and Materials at the WEF Roberto Bocca, said, "As we enter into the decade of action and delivery on climate change, the focus must also encompass speed and resilience of the transition.

"With the energy transition moving beyond the low hanging fruit, sustained incremental progress will be more challenging due to the evolving landscape of risks to the energy transition," he added.