Building energy consumption in Bangladesh has been steadily increasing since 1990. Building sector in Bangladesh consumes 55% of total energy, with the residential sector accounting for 40% of electricity consumption.16,27 1.5°C compatible pathways show an increase in the share of electricity in the buildings energy mix from 23% in 2019 to 86-89% by 2050 under different scenarios. All scenarios see a rapid decline in direct CO₂ emissions from the building sector and reach zero by 2050, for some scenarios, mostly driven by an increased penetration of a decarbonised electricity (see our analysis of the power sector in Bangladesh) in the energy mix and increased energy efficiency.
Biomass is an important energy source in building energy demand particularly for cooking, where 50% of energy demand was met with biomass in 2019. All scenarios see a rapid decline in biomass demand reaching 3-22% by 2050, depending on the scenario.
In 2020, Bangladesh published its National Building Code and has laid out laws for building design and construction including energy and resource efficiency standards for the construction of new buildings.28 This code also aims to reduce the overall energy consumption in the buildings sector through energy efficient appliances. In its updated NDC Bangladesh has included the enhancement of use of energy efficient appliances in residential and commercial buildings as one of the measures to be implemented in meeting its NDC . Bangladesh aims to reduce emissions from the buildings sector by 5% and 12% (commercial and households buildings respectively) from 2030 BAU emissions level. Bangladesh has the largest solar home programme in the world, which enables 20 million homes (16% of rural population) access to electricity.12
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32 While global cost-effective pathways assessed by the IPCC Special Report 1.5°C provide useful guidance for an upper-limit of emissions trajectories for countries, they underestimate the feasible space for developed countries to reach net zero earlier. The current generation of models tend to depend strongly on land-use sinks outside of currently developed countries and include fossil fuel use well beyond the time at which these could be phased out, compared to what is understood from bottom-up approaches. The scientific teams which provide these global pathways constantly improve the technologies represented in their models – and novel CDR technologies are now being included in new studies focused on deep mitigation scenarios meeting the Paris Agreement. A wide assessment database of these new scenarios is not yet available; thus, we rely on available scenarios which focus particularly on BECCS as a net-negative emission technology. Accordingly, we do not yet consider land-sector emissions (LULUCF) and other CDR approaches.
33 Global cost-effective pathways assessed by the IPCC Special Report 1.5°C tend to include fossil fuel use well beyond the time at which these could be phased out, compared to what is understood from bottom-up approaches, and often rely on rather conservative assumptions in the development of renewable energy technologies. This tends to result in greater reliance on technological CDR than if a faster transition to renewables were achieved. The scenarios available at the time of this analysis focus particularly on BECCS as a net-negative emission technology, and our downscaling methods do not yet take national BECCS potentials into account.
34 At the regional level, models suggest coal-fired power to be phased out in South Asian countries by 2040.31
Bangladeshʼs energy mix in the buildings sector
petajoule per year
- Natural gas
- Coal
- Oil and e-fuels
- Biofuel
- Biogas
- Biomass
- Hydrogen
- Electricity
- Heat
Bangladeshʼs buildings sector direct CO₂ emissions (of energy demand)
MtCO₂/yr
- Historical emissions
- SSP1 High CDR reliance
- SSP1 Low CDR reliance
- High energy demand - Low CDR reliance
- Low energy demand
1.5°C compatible buildings sector benchmarks
Direct CO₂ emissions and shares of electricity, heat and biomass in the buildings final energy demand from illustrative 1.5°C pathways for Bangladesh
Indicator | 2019 | 2030 | 2040 | 2050 | Decarbonised buildings sector by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Direct CO₂ emissions MtCO₂/yr | 10 | 4 to 5 | 0 to 3 | 0 | 2033 to 2043 |
Relative to reference year in % | −58 to −49% | −98 to −65% | −100 to −99% |
Indicator | 2019 | 2030 | 2040 | 2050 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Share of electricity Percent | 23 | 47 to 77 | 75 to 76 | 86 to 89 |
Share of heat Percent | 0 | 0 to 1 | 1 | 1 |
Share of hydrogen Percent | 0 | 0 to 1 | 1 to 12 | 1 to 12 |