Think out of the box for sustainable energy transition: Prof Joyashree Roy

Bangladesh needs to think out of the box for sustainable energy transition, Professor Joyashree Roy has said.

News Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 25 Sept 2019, 11:06 PM
Updated : 25 Sept 2019, 11:06 PM

The inaugural Bangabandhu chair professor at Bangkok’s Asian Institute of Technology talked on multidimensionality of challenges for a fast developing country like Bangladesh in sustainable energy transition at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Senior and mid-level faculty members from all departments and centres of the university joined the interactive session presided over by ULAB Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Shamsad Mortuza, the university said in a media release.

Prof Roy, a member of the Nobel Peace Prize 2007-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the coordinating lead author of its WGIII (mitigation), set the tone by explaining the “dire need” for a sustainable energy shift from a fossil-fuel-based one to a renewable-energy one, especially under the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) era.

She explained why much focused renewable sources, like solar, wind or bioenergy, would not be sufficient for Bangladesh in the coming decades for such transition.

We need a "just, sustainable, peaceful transition", and we need it fast, she emphasised.

Drawing examples from Nordic countries, she argued how transforming the natural gas and coal-exploitation-centred expertise and infrastructure of Bangladesh could be capitalised on building geothermal and hydrogen fuel capacity, and it has to be started with pilot demonstrations.

The talk by Prof Roy was followed by a discussion on pertinent technological, social, economic, and cultural issues.

The conversations also explored the opportunities for Bangladeshi academics, researchers, and students to collaborate on joint research, to undertake academic activities, and to join capacity development with the AIT and other institutions and programmes in the region on energy, climate change, SDGs, blue economy, and evidence-informed policy influencing.