During the launch of the International Greentech and Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia (IGEM) 2024 on Thursday (Oct 10), Economics Minister Rafizi Ramli emphasised the need for Malaysia to accelerate environmental legislation and expand climate financing strategies to meet its net-zero emissions goals.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Just under a decade ago, the Paris Agreement was established in 2015.
00:14Malaysia, alongside 195 signatories, have committed to reducing carbon emissions by
00:2245% in 2030 and achieve a net zero by 2050.
00:30Since then, global progress has been admittedly skewed.
00:36The context of Malaysia's own journey to net zero has to be framed properly.
00:42Since 1750, Malaysia has contributed only 0.37% of carbon dioxide emissions.
00:51That means from around the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the likes of the United
00:58States have emitted 65 times more CO2 than us.
01:05Despite this less than 1% contribution, this administration refuses to think to shirk our
01:14global responsibility.
01:16We recognize not just the social impetus, but the need to demonstrate regional leadership.
01:24For us, this is about implementing thoughtful measures that secure a sustainable future
01:30for the people of Southeast Asia.
01:34To achieve this, it forces us to address the energy trilemma, establishing security, sustainability
01:44and affordability.
01:47This means confronting hard realities.
01:51For example, we may be the fifth largest exporter of LNG in the world, but we are also importing
01:59about 30% to fuel our own electricity needs.
02:05This poses a serious question about our foreign dependence in powering local demands.
02:14Ladies and gentlemen, countering this lies in embracing energy transition and decarbonizing
02:24at scale.
02:27But the means of doing so varies from country to country.
02:33There are fundamentally two types of pathways that countries can really turn to.
02:40One path is policy-led.
02:43This is where countries can institutionalize sustainability reporting, establish green
02:50tax incentives, or legislate net zero commitments.
02:56It creates a progressive framework that nudges the ecosystem towards adopting sustainable
03:02practices.
03:05Whereas the second path is resource-dependent.
03:10Countries embrace the potential of hydrogen, building EV capacity, and using sustainable
03:19aviation fuel, for example.
03:22It's about leveraging natural resources with technology to build the right kind of renewable
03:30energy infrastructures.
03:33Some countries favor one pathway over the other.
03:37Most tend to do a combination of the two with some trade-offs.
03:43But it is very rare for a country to do both at a high level.
03:49Those that do are poised to become climate leaders and regional energy hubs.
03:58Ladies and gentlemen, I believe Malaysia is well-placed to do exactly that.
04:05Our biodiversity, from land to sea, has blessed us with a natural competitive advantage.
04:15And Boi Binik has elaborated at length on this.
04:20For example, our sunny climate has pushed us to be the third largest manufacturer of
04:27solar panels in the world.
04:31Or another example, how being the second largest producer of palm oil makes it easier for us
04:39to embrace biomass as an alternative fuel source.
04:45Other resource-limited countries have had to compensate through more progressive policies.
04:51This is where Malaysia, unfortunately, has traditionally played catch-up.
05:00Our legislation tends to take time and isn't always benchmarked against the best practices.
05:07When this administration takes office, we look at how long a government previously brings
05:18from the ideation of a legislation to passing it in Parliament.
05:24Normally, it takes at least four years.
05:28It can take ten years.
05:32And because of that, we have to ask this question.
05:37What's the point of having an abundance of resources if we can't have the right policies
05:45that unlock value and catapult us to the front?
05:49This is the question that this administration has sprinted in the last two years to manage.
05:58Since taking office, we are changing that now.
06:02I'll give you one example, CCUS.
06:05I think there's now a competition between different ministries to see who can bring
06:11the legislation fastest to make up for all the lost time in the last ten years.
06:17NRES is going to bring Climate Change Act sometime next year.
06:23I'm glad that my ministry is going to beat NRES because we are bringing CCUS legislation
06:32at, I think, a record speed of six months.
06:37From the ideation, formulation, bring it all the way to the processes, and we're going
06:44to pass it next month, inshallah.
06:48So if you look at CCUS, going back to this blessed country of Malaysia that has so much
06:56resources, Malaysia is blessed with several high-quality storylines.
07:05We are repurposing what was previously an extractive business and shifting towards
07:11injection and storage.
07:13Yet, as I mentioned before, despite the whole world is looking at us because we have this
07:20abundance of resources, previously we haven't had the right regulatory framework to crowd
07:27in investors and redefine a new supply chain.
07:32And as I mentioned, within a month from now, this administration will be tabling a CCUS
07:40bill to Parliament, the first of its kind in this country.
07:46And hopefully, the robust regulatory framework is benchmarked against several countries.
07:52We have been looking at quite a lot of it and benchmarked it against best practices
08:00from Europe and has incorporated internationally recognised standards.