KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC) Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad urged companies and financial institutions to participate in the voluntary carbon markets (VCM), one of the government's key initiatives to address climate change agenda.
Their participation in VCM would allow them to offset their carbon emissions and meet the voluntary climate goals.
“Malaysia has commenced initiatives on developing VCM to support financing for projects and solutions to reduce, remove, or avoid greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,” he said in his speech at the Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3) Conference ‘Journey to Zero’ today.
Nik Nazmi noted that the Bursa Carbon Exchange (BCX), launched by Bursa Malaysia last year as a VCM exchange for buyers and suppliers to transact high-quality carbon credits at transparent prices, has since seen 150,000 Verra-carbon credits purchased with around RM7.7 million in carbon credits sold.
As a signatory to the Paris Agreement, Malaysia is committed to reducing the intensity of GHG emissions across the economy by 45 per cent, based on gross domestic product (GDP) in 2030 compared to the 2005 level as its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).
The recent Mid-Term Review of the 12th Malaysia Plan saw steady progress towards achieving two targets, namely the installation of renewable energy (RE) capacity at 24.3 per cent in 2022 with a target of 31 per cent by 2025, and the recycling of household waste at 33.2 per cent in 2022 with a target of 40 per cent by 2025.
“Although Malaysia's share of global GHG emissions is below 0.8 per cent, as a responsible and developing nation, we have pledged to fulfil our climate obligations, and this is reflected in our climate initiatives over recent years,” he added.
— Bernama
