Assessment and Way Forward for Bangladesh on SDG-7: Affordable and Clean Energy
Vikrant P. Katekar, Sandip Deshmukh, Ammar H. Elsheikh
Abstract
In 2019, Bangladesh was one of the world's fastest-growing economies with a GDP growth rate of 7.9%. However, the county is facing challenges such as energy scarcity, widespread poverty, and overpopulation. This article discusses the energy scenario in Bangladesh in terms of energy resources, supply mix, access to electricity and cooking fuels. It describes major issues and challenges, macro and micro initiatives taken by the Government of Bangladesh to attain SDG-7. The manuscript also compares the progress of Bangladesh with other South Asian countries. Finally, the paper recommends some policy interventions to attain SDG-7 as early as possible. This study concludes that Bangladesh is severely facing the problem of energy scarcity to maintain sustainable economic growth. It has been also observed that Bangladesh has a limited focus on renewable energy utilisation. With the huge availability of renewable energy potential, Bangladesh will not only solve the problem of energy scarcity but also save huge expenditure on imports of fossil fuel.