Companies, financial institutions urged to partake in VCM

KUALA LUMPUR - Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC) Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad today 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.

He said 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’, here today.

Nik Nazmi noted that 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.

He said that as a signatory to the Paris Agreement, Malaysia is committed to reducing the intensity of GHG emissions across the economy by 45 per cent which is based on gross domestic product (GDP) in 2030 compared to the 2005 level as its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

Nik Nazmi said 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