The Trade Council of Denmark – Bangladesh, in collaboration with BGMEA, organized a webinar on 5th October 2021 to create awareness about technological solutions from Denmark for green building and industrial processes for transition to sustainable and environmentally conscious practices.
The purpose of the webinar is to facilitate the sustainable economic transition of Bangladesh. H.E. Winnie, Danish Ambassador to Bangladesh, “Denmark is committed to assisting Bangladesh in achieving this sustainable economic transition.”
Denmark has maintained successful bilateral relations with Bangladesh for almost 50 years. So, Denmark wants to bring their technological solutions to help Bangladesh with the transition.
“Denmark has kept its commitment to the UN Sustainable Goals and to do so, Denmark has been establishing itself as a global sustainable fashion hub”, said Winnie. Bangladesh is also establishing itself as a sustainable manufacturing hub in the world.
Faruque Hassan, President of BGMEA said, “Bangladesh has the highest number of green garment factories in the world with 148 LEED-certified green factories by from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC)”.
BGMEA is working on industrial symbolize, digitalization, product development, and innovation to take Bangladesh textile & RMG to the next level. Bangladesh’s textile industry is now moving towards renewable and clean energy.
“Denmark’s technical solution can help Bangladesh find more suitable solutions for the industry”, said Hassan.
However, Bangladesh Textile Industry is already running a large number of projects for sustainable production with LEED. In Bangladesh, a total of 135 number of Projects have been Certified already & 500 number new Projects have been registered for LEED certification, by U.S. Green Building Council. In 2021, Bangladesh received the USGBC Regional Leadership Award.
LEED is a certification administered by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED green building rating system is the energy Efficiency certification standard. A green building is an environmentally sustainable building, designed, constructed, and operated to minimize the total environmental impacts.
LEED has created a digital-based open API platform to measure building performance in the case of green scores in five different aspects: Energy, Water, Waste, Transportation, and Human Experience. LEED recently introduced the ‘Safety First Pilot Credit’ for the COVID epidemic situation.
But the implementation of these certifications and technology requires a huge amount of investment. The global manufacturing industry was facing a huge financial crisis due to the epidemic. However, in terms of sustainability, the Bangladesh government is very supportive of green taxonomy and sustainable financing.
Khondkar Morshed Millat, General Manager, Sustainable Finance Department (SFD), Bangladesh Bank said, “central bank of Bangladesh has been very much passionate about Green Banking, green financing, and sustainable financing since 2009”.
Sustainable Finance Department of Bangladesh Bank has taken an effort to prioritize the priorities based on their contribution towards sustainability with respect to environmental, social, economic, and governance issues that are in conformity. Its primary objective is to help steer private capital to activities that benefit the environment in the long term.
Bangladesh Bank has four types of funds for the manufacturers who work on green energy, green product, and initiatives. If an ideal fund size for green building and green industry is almost BDT 1.50 to 2.00 Billion. Against this requirement, the maximum fund from the BB refinancing scheme will be BDT 0.20 billion for green building and 0.50 billion for green industry and the rest will be on the owner’s bank’s own finance & equity. Interest Rate will be:
6% (Tenor upto 5 Yrs), 6.5% (Tenor 5 — 8 Yrs). 7% (8 yrs & above)
Bangladesh Bank has a stronghold on sustainable financing with green Governance, Structured Sustainable Finance Policy, strong Screening Mechanism, Stricter, Monitoring and Supervision, BB Refinance Schemes availability, MIS, Knowledge Hub, Awareness, Capacity Building, Green Marketing & Innovation, Checklist for Structured Documentation, and Disclosure.
But there is also the challenge of establishing proper sustainable financing: High initial investment and cost, Lack of public awareness, Communication Gap, Proper Documentation, and Lack of motivational approaches from the top-level management.
These challenges can be overcome with the help of appropriate and affordable technology. In the webinar, Denmark proposed five technological solutions for Bangladeshi textile and RMG industries.
- Water efficiency and sustainability by IFC
- Danish Water Technology by Roserve Enviro Pvt. Ltd.
- Danish Water Technology by Grundfos Pumps
- Danish Building Technology by JS Ventilation
- Danish Building Technology by Hempel Paints
Water efficiency and sustainability by IFC:
International Finance Corporation IFC is part of the World Bank Group. IFC launched Partnership for Cleaner Textile (PaCT) in 2013 to enhance the competitiveness and sustainability of the RMG sector in Bangladesh.
The textile sector is using 15 billion liters of water per year so the water table level is declining by 2.5 meters per year. Nishat Shahid Chowdhury, Program Manager of IFC said in her presentation that factories that joined the PaCT program were able to save 19% water on shirts, 27% on denim pant, and 20% on a single shirt.
Danish Water Technology by Roserve Enviro Pvt. Ltd.:
ROSERVE is a Joint Venture between Danish Climate Investment Fund (DCIF) and Concord Enviro Systems which offer Wastewater Recycle Solutions to Industries reducing the consumption of Fresh Water / Ground Water & moving towards Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD).
ROSERVE provides a blend of advanced technology and _ financial solutions delivering a ‘Pay as you Treat’ solution especially for industries looking to achieve Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD). The Solution shifts the responsibility of wastewater management to ROSERVE including Investment, Operations & Compliance.
The treatment philosophy is to recycle the wastewater to the process using less energy and keeping the cost of recycled water to the lowest possible thus ensuring that the 3R’s of Sustainability viz. Reduce, Reuse Recycle.
Turbaashu Bhattacharya, Business Unit Head of Roserve Enviro Pvt. Ltd. said, “Recycling allows meeting >90% of your total daily water consumption thereby reducing the intake of freshwater significantly”.
The cost of recycled water is that there is a lot of infiltration in wastewater treatment, especially in reducing the use of freshwater which does not have a very visible result.
Cost of recycled water = Cost of wastewater treatment & Recycle — Cost
Danish Building Technology by JS Ventilation:
Danish joint venture ABG JS Ventilation Ltd has launched COOL Ceiling and Customized Ventilation Products for the Bangladesh market. Chairman Søren Duval, and Managing Director SM Gofranul Hoque of ABG JS Ventilation Ltd, said they would be able to supply their “high quality” products at “a more competitive price and shorter delivery time”.
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Figure 4: Animation of COOL Ceiling system of JS Ventilation.
Danish Building Technology by Hempel Paints:
Hempel Paints will provide corrosion protection and passive fire protection in the textile sector of Bangladesh. Corrosion protection coatings protect assets exposed to various levels of corrosivity (from C2 to CX) and durability requirement (from low to very high) in accordance with ISO 12944.
Hempel Paints offer an intumescent coating for passive fire protection of structural steel in cellulosic fires including both solvent-borne and water-based products, with protection rating from 30 mins to 120 mins, and tested in accordance with BS 476 and EN 16623.
Danish Water Technology by Grundfos Pumps:
Grundfos is the largest pump manufacturer in the world, based in Denmark. Grundfos pumps, on the other hand, typically last 15-20 years before needing a replacement or repair. Shankar Rajaram, Sales Director of Grundfos Pumps said, “Grundfos Pump system can save 15% energy in the system existing in the market”.
Ali Mushtaq Butt, Head of Trade Denmark moderated the webinar to present these technological solutions with Danish companies. Kim Hor Toh, Chief Architect of Surbana Jurong Bangladesh Limited, Nazli Hussain, Managing Director of Process of Certification: Praxis Architects Ltd, Terrence Goh, Regional Specifications Manager and Tarun Kumar Seerapu, Regional Business Development Manager of Hempel Paints, Kim Waage Weinkouff Cook, Financial Sector Counsellor, Embassy of Denmark were the distinguished guests of the webinar.
