The world has approximately 1.3 billion people living with disabilities. They are among the most exposed to the climate crisis and and among the least heard in conversations about solving it. This must change.

When we talk about who suffers most from climate change, we speak of island nations disappearing beneath rising seas, farmers watching harvests fail, families losing homes to floods. These are real and devastating realities. But there is a group that cuts across every one of these crises, systematically left out of the conversation: persons with disabilities.

At Inclusive Climate Action, we work every day at this intersection and and what we find, consistently, is not that disability is a footnote to the climate crisis. It is central to it.

The Numbers Tell a Clear Story

Persons with disabilities make up approximately 16% of the global population. In Bangladesh, where Inclusive Climate Action is based, an estimated 10 million people live with some form of disability. Bangladesh is also among the countries most acutely vulnerable to climate change and facing rising sea levels, increasingly severe cyclones, intensifying floods, and prolonged droughts.

What the International Frameworks Say

The UNCRPD, ratified by 185 states, makes clear that the right to life, health, and adequate standard of living applies fully to persons with disabilities and including in environmental threats. The Sendai Framework explicitly calls for disability-inclusive DRR. The 2030 Agenda commits to leaving no one behind.

Yet a review of Nationally Determined Contributions reveals that fewer than 25% explicitly mention disability. The frameworks exist. The implementation does not.

What Disability-Inclusive Climate Action Actually Looks Like

In practical terms, disability-inclusive climate action means: early warning systems in accessible formats, evacuation plans that include persons with physical disabilities, accessible disaster shelters, climate adaptation funding that reaches OPDs, and national adaptation plans developed with meaningful OPD participation.

A Call to Action

Climate justice that excludes one billion people is not justice. At Inclusive Climate Action, we are committed to changing this and through research, advocacy, consulting, and amplifying the voices of persons with disabilities in every climate space we enter.

Hundreds of billions of dollars flow through international climate finance mechanisms every year. Almost none of it reaches organisations of persons with disabilities. Here is how OPDs in Bangladesh can begin to change that.

One of the most common questions we receive from OPD leaders across Bangladesh is: "The funding exists. We know it exists. So why can't we access it?"

International climate finance and channelled through mechanisms like the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Adaptation Fund, and bilateral donors and has grown enormously. Yet persons with disabilities and OPDs remain systematically excluded from these funding flows.

Why OPDs Struggle to Access Climate Finance

The Most Accessible Entry Points for OPDs

1. The Disability Rights Fund and Grants of 5,000–0,000 specifically for OPDs in the Global South. Most accessible starting point. Applications in plain language.

2. CBM Global and Project-based partnership grants for OPDs in South Asia working on disability-inclusive DRR and climate resilience. Also an accredited GCF entity.

3. Green Climate Fund and Readiness Programme and Up to million to build capacity to access GCF resources. OPDs can engage through UNDP Bangladesh or the Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund.

4. USAID Bangladesh and Periodic calls for proposals including disability inclusion as a cross-cutting theme. OPDs with NGOAB registration are eligible.

5. German Embassy Small Grants and Grants of 0,000–0,000 covering disability and climate themes. More straightforward application process.

How Inclusive Climate Action Can Help

Proposal writing for climate finance is a specialist skill. At Inclusive Climate Action, we provide expert proposal writing support to OPDs across Bangladesh and helping identify the right funding opportunity, develop a compelling concept note, and write a full proposal in the language climate funders want to hear.