IDCOL in partnership with Ricardo-AEA Limited, a UK-based energy consulting firm, has received funding from the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy under its UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) Green Recovery Challenge Fund (GRCF) for implementing a project titled “সবুজ বাংলাদেশের পথে”for enabling businesses in Bangladesh to access finance to invest in new electric vehicles.

A webinar was organized on 16 September 2021 marking the launch of Financial Institutions Working Group (FIWG) and UK-Bangladesh Business Engagement Forum (BEF) under the project. The FIWG will facilitate designing of financing models and advising on the full spectrum of financial services that could be leveraged into the project. The BEF will serve as a platform for the engagement between businesses and financial institutions.

The webinar was chaired by Dr. Atiur Rahman, Ex-Governor of Bangladesh Bank. Mr. Khondkar Morshed Millat, General Manager, Sustainable Finance Department of Bangladesh Bank attended the event as Special Guest. Ms. Doyin Adele-Shiyanbola, Second Secretary, Political from the British High Commission in Dhaka presented the welcome address. Mr. Nazmul Haque, Chief Investment Officer of IDCOL represented IDCOL in the FIWG.

Earlier, IDCOL conducted a demand and need assessment survey among the Micro, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Bangladesh that revealed that there is an increased interest among the businesses to better understand the opportunity for integrating sustainable transport solutions into their business operations. 30% of the respondents own at least one EV and 56% of the companies expressed their intent to develop an inhouse fleet of EV in near future.

The full survey report can be found in this link: https://britbanglabusinesssupport.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/MSME-Demands-and-Needs-Bangaldesh-Septemb-2021.pdf     

Notably, UK PACT is a capacity building program under the UK’s International Climate Finance portfolio. The GRCF program was set up in January 2020 under which projects in countries across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia are supported to accelerate their low-carbon transition. The project in Bangladesh is being implemented by Ricardo with support from IDCOL, LightCastle Partners, Policy Exchange Bangladesh and HIVOS.