On February 6, Bangladesh signed its first-ever Economic Partnership Agreement with Japan. The headline: duty-free access to 97% of Bangladesh's export basket, including RMG. What the headlines missed: the EPA contains specific provisions on labour rights, fair wages, safe work environments, social security, pollution control, natural resource conservation, and sustainable development. This is not just a trade deal. It is ESG compliance embedded in bilateral law.

FY27 budget: 11 new Article 6 carbon projects. Half the coastal mangrove belt under carbon trading. $1 billion annually in projected carbon revenue. These are real ambitions — Bangladesh genuinely has the carbon assets. The problem is that in April 2026, Thailand sold 49,717 verified carbon credits to Switzerland. Bangladesh has not sold one internationally verified unit. The difference is entirely institutional: Thailand built the MRV system first. Bangladesh announced the revenue target.

With LDC graduation closing in and trade preferences shrinking, Bangladesh urgently needs its next export champion. Seven sectors show promise. All share one uncomfortable requirement: compliance.

Bangladesh's climate budget for FY26 was Tk 41,209 crore 10.07% of the national budget. That sounds significant. It has also been falling as a share of GDP every year since FY20. The environment ministry received just 0.3% of the total budget. 88% of climate finance came from foreign loans and grants. At a May 19 dialogue, the PM's special assistant confirmed carbon trading could generate $1 billion annually. Civil society's demand: build the domestic fiscal architecture to match the climate...