Bangladesh emitted 124 million tonnes of CO₂ in 2024, up from 15 million in 1990 (excluding land use and forestry). Power plants alone produced 61.2 million tonnes — 49% of the total, compared with 4.3 million tonnes, or 29%, in 1990.
29% → 49%
Power industry’s share of Bangladesh’s CO₂ emissions, 1990 to 2024.
Emissions from power generation grew about fourteenfold over the period, faster than the eightfold rise in total CO₂. Industry follows: 20.8 million tonnes from burning fuel in factories and 13.6 million from industrial processes together 28% of the total. Transport accounted for 13.2 million tonnes (11%) and buildings for 11.4 million (9%). Agriculture’s direct CO₂ is small (2.6 million tonnes, 2%), although farming has other greenhouse-gas effects not shown here.
The pattern coincides with the expansion of fossil-fuelled generation: the World Bank’s IEA-based series show gas, coal and oil supplying nearly 98% of Bangladesh’s electricity in 2024. Because power is the largest source, the way new electricity is generated is the biggest single influence on the country’s CO₂ trajectory.
These are modelled inventory estimates from the EDGAR database, not national reporting to the UN climate convention, so they can differ from Bangladesh’s own figures.
Source: EDGAR Community GHG Database (European Commission Joint Research Centre), via World Bank WDI.