Adapt or die: Bangladesh joins the race to climate-proof cities

Bangladesh's capital, one of the world's most congested and polluted mega-cities, is home to around 10 million people, including thousands who have fled floods and droughts in other parts of a country that is on the frontline of climate change.

Managing these huge numbers while also climate-proofing the riverside city is a huge challenge but it is an urgent one that city authorities are hoping to address with their first climate action plan, which was launched in May.

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The stakes are high: the Asian Development Bank says that unless planet-heating emissions are cut, the collective economy of six countries - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka - could shrink by up to 1.8% every year by 2050 and 8.8% by 2100, on average.

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This year's COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan is expected to focus on setting a goal for the levels of climate finance that will be needed from 2025 onwards to help poorer nations curb emissions, adapt to worsening extreme weather and higher seas, and respond to unavoidable climate "loss and damage".