Financial success must be accompanied by environmental stewardship and social justice
Many of the investments made in Bangladesh, especially in the manufacturing sector, have contributed to impressive growth in GDP over the last decade, but have presented the threat of locking the country into an unsustainable development path. The tangible ramifications of such environmentally irresponsible investments are evident in air, water and land pollution that is damaging natural ecosystems, eroding biodiversity and widening social inequity. Green finance, which means channeling investment to projects that benefit the environment, is put forward as a tool to internalise environmental externalities and adjust climate change-related risk perceptions to boost green and sustainable economic development. In Bangladesh, even though some policy alignments are evident towards achieving sustainable development goals, there are opportunities for creating an enabling environment for financial institutions, both formal and non-formal, to play a catalytic role in promoting green growth in the present and foreseeable future.