DHAKA: Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB) SK Sur Chowdhury has given emphasis on strengthening water and energy efficiency investment for achieving sustainable development.

“….mechanisms to capture the opportunities for water and energy efficiency investments need to be created or strengthened,” BB Deputy Governor Mr. Sur Chowhury said while addressing at a workshop on Water and Energy Efficiency Financing as Chief Guest at a local hotel on Sunday.

The workshop, titled ‘Water & Energy Efficiency Financing’, organized by the Partnership for Cleaner Textile (PaCT) programme of the International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group, addressed some of the key issues in increasing overall financial flows to the sector through innovation in financial product offering and, market development.

“For water and energy efficiency investments to be made, water and energy efficiency concepts must be marketed to enterprises, and specific projects must be identified, designed, and appraised,” the Deputy Governor explained.

Despite the variety of sources for financing energy efficiency projects, it is clear that ultimately the key source of sustainable and sizable flows of finance in most countries is the local banking sector, he observed.

He also said water efficiency is an investment in future service reliability, environmental stewardship and economic viability.

“Greater energy efficiency is the key for shifting country development paths toward lower-carbon economic growth. Especially in developing countries and transition economies, vast potential for energy savings opportunities remain unrealized even though current financial returns are strong,” Mr. Sur Chowdhury noted.

“So, innovation is must! Diversifying and innovating newer financing modalities and financial instruments for water and energy efficiency viz-a-viz sustainable sectors will give the banks and financial institutions an added advantage,” he added.

He also said the time has already come to make the banks sustainable to make the financial system sustainable. “Definitely, the banks have to make profit, but the profit has to be sustainable.”

“We’re ready to give our hand of cooperation and support as usual to all relevant stakeholders for sustainable development,” the Deputy Governor noted.

He also mentioned that the central bank of Bangladesh has already started working to upstream the sustainable finance mechanism for future.

The main objective for arranging the workshop was to support financial institutions and technology service providers in promoting water and energy efficiency products and services for the textile industry in Bangladesh.

Among others, Mohan Seneviratne, Programme Manager, PaCT (Partnership for Cleaner Textile) of the IFC, Wendy Werner, Country Manager of the IFC and Selim R F Hussain, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of BRAC Bank Limited spoke on the occasion.