Bangladesh’s textile sector can set global standards for climate-resilient manufacturing

Major apparel brands, development partners, development finance institutions (DFIs), commercial banks and financial institutions, industry experts, and Bangladesh Bank came together for a high level dialogue today, convened by the Resilient Water Accelerator (RWA) to advance investment pathways for water resilience in Bangladesh’s textile sector.

Opening the session, Ella Lazarte, CEO of Resilient Water Accelerator, underscored both the urgency and opportunity facing the sector:
“Bangladesh can be the best in the world — not only meeting global sustainability frameworks, but out-stripping them and becoming an example of excellence for others to follow.”

As the world’s second-largest garment producer, Bangladesh’s textile industry is central to global supply chains and national economic growth, yet faces rising water stress driven by groundwater depletion, basin vulnerability, and growing industrial demand. The session focused on how catalysing timely investment into water-efficient, recycling, and reuse technologies can safeguard long-term competitiveness while strengthening climate resilience.

Discussions explored practical financing solutions, including dedicated credit lines for water efficiency and recycling, blended-finance approaches, and the deployment of advanced water recycling and zero-liquid-discharge (ZLD) technologies across textile wet-processing operations.

A key feature of the dialogue was RWA’s techno-economic assessment (TEA) programme, commissioned across a cohort of 25 brand-nominated factories. The TEA is designed to identify priority technologies, quantify water and cost savings, and translate technical opportunities into investment-ready pipelines. Participants highlighted that the session helped place this work on a firm footing by aligning brands, financiers, and development partners around how TEA outputs can directly inform financing decisions in 2026 and beyond.

Speaking at the event, Chowdhury Liakat Ali, Head of Sustainable Finance at Bangladesh Bank, noted that recent sustainable-finance measures allow banks to extend loans for eligible projects at interest rates below their cost of capital, helping lower barriers to investment in water and other sustainability priorities.

Jishan Shamsad, Sustainable Finance Lead at HSBC Bangladesh, emphasised that commercial banks are mandated by the central bank to allocate a defined share of lending to sustainable finance, and highlighted the role of blended finance — including concessional funding and grants — in reducing overall cost of capital for transformative investments.

The event was attended by representatives from leading apparel brands including H&M, Gap, Ralph Lauren, Marks & Spencer, Primark, Next, and Bestseller, alongside development partners and DFIs such as DEG, World Bank’s WRG 2030, representatives from embassies and high commissions of Sweden, Netherlands and Sweden, commercial banks such as HSBC and Prime Bank, technology providers, and sector organisations such as WaterAid Bangladesh and the Alliance for Water Stewardship.

The dialogue concluded with strong interest from participants to continue collaborating with RWA to build bankable, scalable financing pathways that position Bangladesh’s textile sector at the forefront of global climate-resilient and water-secure manufacturing.

RWA catalyzes capital by transforming investment landscapes and scaling financing solutions for climate resilient water security.