Md. Tahmid Zami

In the wake of student uprisings that toppled Sheikh Hasina's Bangladesh government last July, an interim government vowed to bring reform to the country's energy sector that is responsible for three-quarters of its planet-heating emissions.

The government led by Muhammad Yunus inherited energy subsidies for consumers which make up more than 1% of the country's economy and large outstanding payments for power imports as well, according to government figures.

Across Bangladesh, clay-fired kilns for brick making send filth into the air, spew toxic gasses and use up topsoil that could be producing food.

To clean the air and meet environmental goals, the government has been closing the polluting kilns, but the adoption of cleaner alternatives is badly lagging, industry insiders say.

The uprising in Bangladesh that ousted the former government one year ago was led by young people demanding greater economic opportunity.

An interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has formed nearly a dozen commissions to propose reforms for everything from the constitution to elections and has announced programmes to train and employ youth.

A year after an uprising forced the Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh out of power, challenges persist in the country to address the severe lack of jobs among youth who took their grievances to the streets.

The uprising, in which some 1,400 people were killed, according to the United Nations, was sparked by the issue of quota reservations in the country's civil service recruitment tests.

It's back-breaking work - dusty, dangerous and poorly paid - but the million Bangladeshis who make, bake and stack clay bricks fear their jobs will soon go in the name of saving the planet.

And they don't expect that any 'green' change forced upon them will be easy to weather, fearing they will be sent back to their far-flung fields to eke out a thin living.

Across Asia, unions and industry groups are raising alarms over the impact of higher tariffs by the United States on garment workers.

High tariffs might force companies to shut down or move to neighbouring countries that offer lower tariff rates, resulting in a loss of jobs, they say.

The fashion industry is responsible for up to 8% of the world's planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions, according to U.N. figures, which many of its companies have promised to tackle with targets to reach net zero by 2050 or sooner.

Yet researchers, companies and industry insiders say that little has been done to push this along in their supply chains in major textile-producing countries like Bangladesh, India and Cambodia.

About a quarter of the world's bricks are produced in South Asia to build houses and factories in the region as more people move to urban areas in search of work.

But brick-making contributes to air pollution and emits greenhouse gases, while attempts to reduce emissions have faltered.

The satellite internet service Starlink is entering South Asian countries in its latest expansion, offering fast internet connections to people left offline but raising concerns about the dominance of a company owned by billionaire Elon Musk.

The satellite unit of Musk's SpaceX signed agreements this month with several Bangladeshi firms to set up ground stations after the head of the interim government, Muhammad Yunus, invited Musk to visit and launch Starlink services.  

Heatwaves, floods and cyclones are increasing in the Asia-Pacific region as the climate crisis unfolds, forcing the Red Cross to come up with new, long-term fixes that better meet the challenges of extreme weather.

Bangladesh has lost an average of $3 billion per year due to the impact of climate change during the last three decades, according to the environmental non-profit Germanwatch.