Global fashion brands must help finance Bangladesh’s transition to clean energy in the garment sector, speakers said at a multi-stakeholder dialogue in Dhaka on Monday, calling for renewable energy, accessible financing and fair purchasing practices alongside stronger protections for workers.
The dialogue, titled “From Framework to Action: Advancing a Multi-Stakeholder Initiative for a Just Transition in Bangladesh’s Fashion Industry”, was held at the Lakeshore Hotel.
Organised by Stand.earth, Oxfam in Bangladesh and Breaking the Silence (BTS), the event brought together policymakers, fashion brands, manufacturers, trade unions, the International Labour Organisation (ILO), GIZ and Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute.
Stand.earth introduced the Clean Fashion Investment Pact, followed by two panel discussions on developing a sector roadmap for women workers, financing the energy transition and strengthening collaboration on climate adaptation.
Fashion-sector emissions rose 7.5% in 2023 and a further 6.3% in 2024, reaching roughly one billion tonnes a year, according to the Apparel Impact Institute.
Bangladesh, the world’s third-largest apparel exporter and the ninth most climate-vulnerable country, faces significant risks from climate change. Its four million garment workers, many of them women, are particularly exposed to rising temperatures and flooding.
“Energy transition is not merely about technological change; it is an economic, social, and humanitarian transformation. We must ensure that in making the industry eco-friendly, workers’ employment, fair wages, safe working environments, and social security are not compromised,” said Kazi Rafiqul Islam, MP and member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Planning, who attended the event as chief guest.
Razequzzaman Ratan, president of the Socialist Labour Front, questioned how the costs and benefits of the transition were being distributed.
“The burden of the transition is falling on the industry and workers, but who is reaping the benefits? This is our biggest concern,” he said.
A report published last month by the Stand.earth Research Group found that 15 fashion brands could collectively help avoid 1.26 million tonnes of Bangladesh’s carbon dioxide emissions annually by 2040, or 8.59 million tonnes in total. The projected reduction is equivalent to the annual emissions of more than three million North American homes.
“We want to see brands paying a fair share for decarbonisation and efficiency costs, which can include things like collective, shared, or grant-based project financing. We would like to see brands ultimately supporting an industry-wide movement towards nationally or globally administered pools for climate action that can resource these measures,” said Rachel Kitchin, senior campaign manager at Stand.earth.
Rumana Rashid, director of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said workers should receive opportunities for training and reskilling as factories adopt cleaner energy, more efficient machinery and new production systems.
She also stressed the importance of safer workplaces and involving workers in decisions affecting them.
The 2025 Fossil Free Fashion Scorecard found that only six of 42 major brands offered suppliers any decarbonisation finance, while just one did so without adding to suppliers’ debt. Around 90% of the fashion sector’s energy still comes from fossil gas burned on site.
“We believe that climate justice and economic justice must go hand in hand and to leave no one behind so that the vulnerable communities face very little negative impacts and do not bear the costs of the climate action,” said Atwar Rahman, interim head of the Project Management Unit at Oxfam in Bangladesh.
Fashion accounts for about 4% of global climate pollution, while its manufacturing processes rely heavily on coal and other fossil fuels, harming the climate and the health of workers and their communities.
A 2021 Harvard study linked air pollution from burning fossil fuels to one in five deaths worldwide.
Roksana Sultana, executive director of Breaking the Silence, said factory owners could not shoulder the transition alone.
“Governments, international brands, development partners and financial institutes must work together to support a just, inclusive and sustainable transition,” she said.
Participants called on brands to join the Clean Fashion Investment Pact and agree on collective actions to turn corporate commitments into funded, practical measures. These include grant-based and pooled financing for suppliers, incorporating decarbonisation costs into the prices brands pay, enforceable protections against heat and ensuring women workers have a voice in every decision.