As climate change accelerates, Bangladesh stands at a dangerous crossroads — caught between a crisis it did not create and the responsibility to protect its workforce from its growing consequences. The latest 172-page report by Climate Rights International (CRI), “My Body Is Burning,” paints a disturbing picture of how extreme heat, intensified by global warming, is threatening the lives and livelihoods of Bangladesh’s urban workers.
In Dhaka, where the heat index has climbed to a stupefying 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in 2025, garment workers, construction workers and the gig economy are the hardest hit. CRI’s findings are based on interviews with more than 50 workers and demonstrate a pattern of heat-related illness that includes fainting, dehydration, vomiting, muscle cramps and even death. Most have to suffer through the temperatures without any cooling, hydration, or proper rest.
These are not isolated cases — they’re all symptoms of a systemic failure. Forced overtime, verbal abuse, hazardous water and denial of basic human needs like access to toilets are commonplace. Fearing reprimand, they stay silent. Shockingly, some deliberately avoid drinking water to minimise bathroom breaks, increasing the risk of dehydration and long-term health complications.
Multinational brands, the government and the
global community must act now, to both prevent
further tragedy and build a future in which work
doesn’t mean risking death in the heat
The overwhelming majority of these affected workers are part of the informal sector of Bangladesh, which commands nearly 85 percent of Bangladesh’s labour market. But existing labour laws, for all their protections on health and safety, are not being updated and enforced effectively enough. They have no universal guidelines for dealing with extreme heat — a climate-induced risk that is no longer a threat of the future but a present-day emergency.
And the blame should go to the multinational companies that deal from Bangladesh. Brands’ insatiable appetite for high profits at low costs continues to turn a blind eye to the working conditions behind their supply chains as the likes of H&M, Walmart, Primark and New Look demand cheap and fast production. Others, like VF Corporation, have adopted heat safety protocol, but roll-out has been inconsistent, workers continue to fall ill.
This is a usual example of climate unfairness. High-emission countries and fossil fuel companies are causing environmental destruction, as countries like Bangladesh — which contributes negligibly to the world’s emissions — experience the impact. Workers are the people who make the global economic machine run and they are the ones sacrificing their health and in some cases their lives, during this pandemic.
With this change in regime in Bangladesh, after 15 years of administrative stagnation, reform is now a possibility. The government should immediately adopt national heat safety standards, ratify pending International Labour Organization conventions and elevate climate adaptation in labour policies.
Safeguarding workers from extreme heat is not a choice — it is a moral, economic and legal imperative. Multinational brands, the government and the global community must act now, to both prevent further tragedy and build a future in which work doesn’t mean risking death in the heat.
