FROM PAGE B1

Participants of a side discussion said Bangladesh’s progress in adopting measures for promoting renewable energy usage in producing garments remains below 2 percent even though competing countries have already made significant strides in this regard.

Garment exporters, representatives of international clothing retailers and brands, climate experts, lawyers, government high-ups, union leaders, garment factory owners, and experts and researchers from home and abroad participated in the discussion.

Garments and construction industries remain at the heart of Bangladesh’s overall industrial sector, employing 12 million people and contributing 34 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

However, it also generates 15 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, with this contribution expected to rise by about 5 percent by 2030.

The garments and construction sectors, which include brickmaking, cement, and steel manufacturing industries, are critical an industry transition in the country.

Together, these sectors constitute 74 percent of the industrial sector’s contributions to the GDP and are responsible for about half of the emissions in Bangladesh.