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IFC helps Bangladesh garment factories go green
IFC, through its investment climate work in Bangladesh, has teamed up with the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority and the Korea government to set up the Low Carbon Green Zone in the Chittagong Export Processing area. The initiative will help reduce waste production materials with steam and heat recovery for boilers, save energy with LED lights, and ensure pro-environment industrial development using advanced motors.
Through the Low Carbon Green SEZ initiative, IFC is helping clients lower greenhouse-gas emissions from the Chittagong EPZ while helping firms retain their competitive advantage in the global market.
The zone serves as an innovation incubator and focuses on:
• Conducive policy and regulatory framework, including green and smart incentives
• Knowledge sharing and information on industry-wide green practices
• Providing the infrastructure such as sustainable energy production and resource efficiency to allow maximum impact of the initiatives
Welcoming the green drive, Md Nasir Uddin, Chairman of Pacific Jeans, an exporter of jeans and denim from Bangladesh, said, “At Pacific, we have already started environment-friendly production procedures. Once the green production idea is adopted by all, we hope Bangladesh can stand as an example.”
A few decades ago, stonewashing a single pair of jeans required 85 liters of water. By 1995, the amount of water required fell to about 25 liters. With the new green zone infrastructure, a waste recycle procedure, energy-efficient technology, and reverse osmosis, water will be unnecessary, and the savings in monetary terms will be $60,000 a month.
Md Nasir Uddin said he hoped that the garment sector, worth $23 billion, will get more favorable points once all industries become linked through a green network as directed by IFC and other development partners.
Notable changes in industrial production will be new energy-efficient technologies such as waste steam and heat recovery for boilers, LED lights for space lighting, and Servo motors, which save 70 percent of power, and help double production.
“The Chittagong Export Processing Zone has been ranked the 9thbest Export Processing Zone globally by the U.K.-based FDI magazine of the Financial Times. Solid eco-friendly additions, supported by IFC and the Korean government will elevate the status further,” said S.M. Abdur Rashid, General Manager of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone.
“The program in Bangladesh can also work as a model for other developing countries facing similar challenges,” said IFC's Han koo Yeo.
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