Resident Coordinator's speech: Launch of World Wildlife Fund-Malaysia’s report – Securing Our Future: Net Zero Pathways for Malaysia

Your Royal Highness Tunku Ali Redhauddin Ibni Tuanku Muhriz, Chairman of the World Wildlife Fund-Malaysia;

Your Excellency Mr. Charles Hay, British High Commissioner to Malaysia;

Your Excellency Mr. Brian McFeeters, Ambassador of the United States;

Yang Berhormat Ms. Maria Chin Abdullah, Vice Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group on SDGs;

Yang Ber’u-saha, Dr. Nagulendran Kangayatkarasu, Deputy Secretary General, Planning and Culture of Science, Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation;

Ms. Suhani Dewi Selamat, Member of the Board of Trustees, WWF-Malaysia.

Excellencies, Distinguished Speakers, Ladies and Gentlemen, a very good afternoon to you all. 

Please allow me first to extend my most sincere appreciation to WWF and BCG for inviting me to address this distinguished audience.

It is indeed with great pleasure that I address you on behalf of the United Nations, at this launch event and dialogue on the World Wildlife Fund-Malaysia’s report – Securing Our Future: Net Zero Pathways for Malaysia.  

And I take this opportunity to convey a few key messages on where we currently stand, globally and nationally, in the fight against climate change, and also on the way forward.

First and foremost, I must re-iterate the absolute primacy of the climate emergency, and that this threat, absent of urgent and decisive actions, is existential for humanity.  Moreover, Climate Change must be tackled while we simultaneously work to defeat the pandemic and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.  

There are no either-or choices, and no trade-offs to be had.  The science is now crystal clear, achieving net zero emissions by 2050, through cuts of the order of around 45% over the next ten years, are imperatives, if global warming is to be held below the critical limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Secondly, while there were undoubtedly some disappointments, the recent COP26 in Glasgow was a watershed event, and a last real chance at averting disaster.   We now see a genuine global consensus on the trajectory of change and the actions that are required:

• 197 countries, including all of the major industrial powers, have committed to pivotal actions on fossil fuels.
• 140 nations, including Malaysia, have agreed to reverse forest loss and land degradation; and 105 nations committed to major reductions in methane emissions.
• I highlight, in addition, the equal prominence that will now be given to adaptation efforts.
• To support this, the provision of technical advice, technology transfer, and concessional finance for the most vulnerable nations to invest in the necessary resilience measures, was agreed.   
• Compromise was also reached regarding Article Six of the Paris Agreement, that will pave the way for the development of a functional global carbon market.   
• Crucially, there was also unprecedented engagement by international business and commerce, with leading banks and financiers, alongside large industrial conglomerates, joining global efforts. These wholly private sector-led initiatives will shape incentives and opportunities, by creating new markets and delivering the necessary financing to drive carbon neutral production and greener business practices.  
• Alongside the rapid pace of technological innovation that we have seen - in photovoltaic cells, in electric vehicles, in renewable energy – these commercial dynamics will likely be as decisive as policy measures, in delivering a net zero world.   
• Finally, there were important announcements regarding the governance of climate change efforts.  As trailed in the UN Secretary General’s closing remarks, there is a renewed urgency and emphasis on stronger forms of accountability, with toughened reporting and advocacy.  
• Starting the COP27 in Egypt, negotiations will take place every year, with several mechanisms for near real time monitoring and follow-up of delivery at nation-state level.  

I now come to the specific context of Malaysia, and of course, this is the primary focus of the report launched today.  And here, we recognize WWF and the wider INGO community, for the indispensable contributions they continue to make, globally, regionally and nationally.

As we enter the climate change endgame, all nations, and especially Upper Middle-Income Countries, like Malaysia, need to fully engage in policy reforms and practical actions.  

The Government of Malaysia has high ambitions for its climate change efforts, as clearly articulated by the Prime Minister at the launch of the 12th Malaysia Plan, and reiterated by the Ministerial Delegation at COP26.  

Malaysia enjoys inherent comparative advantages in realizing these ambitions, given by its forests, its access to renewable energy and its ability to innovate and deploy new technologies.  

It is now time to capitalize on these advantages, and build on Malaysia’s growing regional profile in ASEAN, and internationally.

So, drawing on the WWF-BCG report, which we will hear more about shortly, I want to highlight four policy directions for consideration.

First, it is vital that the Government accelerate the phasing out of carbon-intensive energy production, through the closure of coal-fired power plants, their replacement with renewables, and following this, the pricing of carbon emissions.  Coal is a non-domestic energy source for Malaysia, and an increasingly costly one.

Malaysia has the means, and faces few constraints, in being at the forefront of efforts to fully decarbonize its energy supply and can serve as a genuine exemplar for others in the region.

Second, we urge Malaysia to embrace the opportunities offered by its abundant natural capital, by halting the decline of natural forest cover, and via the acceleration of re-forestation efforts. 

This would include maintaining at least 50% forest cover as originally pledged during the Rio Earth Summit back in 1992; and by implementing nature-based solutions such as the planting of 100 million trees, to offer an effective global carbon sink.  I underline that these measures would also serve to complement the protection of Malaysia’s world-renowned biodiversity.

Third, and more ambitiously, it is timely for Government to consider significant reductions in both explicit and implicit subsidies to fossil fuels, including those for petroleum.  By progressively reducing these dead weight expenditures, Malaysia will be able to both deliver on its aspirations for carbon neutrality and ensure much needed fiscal space. 

To ease the potential socioeconomic impacts, changes in industrial and regulatory policies, alongside mass communications might be adopted, in tandem with phased subsidy reductions.

Drawing on the experience of other countries, measures might include income support for the affected vulnerable households, incentivizing the take-up of new technologies and opportunities, and the modification of consumer and producer behaviors.  

And I note that a particular strength of this report is its emphasis on delivering practical solutions to alleviate both the environmental and socioeconomic pressures.

Fourthly, it timely that the Government addresses the somewhat neglected topic of adaptation, which as I emphasized, is to receive a renewed focus internationally.   Moreover, in Malaysia, promoting greater adaptation is linked directly to the equity dimensions of climate change, given that the impacts disproportionately affect communities most at risk of being left behind. 

Malaysia enjoys considerable capacities in infrastructure development and has a deep commitment to national unity.  It is therefore vital that public resources are made available to remote and peripheral areas, specifically poor coastal communities, to enable them to cope with climatic damage and dislocations, which are already being experienced in several parts across the country. 

In concluding, I underline that above all else, COP 26 offered a springboard, supported by collective commitments, for all nations to take the necessary actions, but as always, in line with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and capabilities.

I encourage policymakers in Malaysia to be bold in responding to this call for action.  

The UN stands ready to support all stakeholders – federal, state, and local governments, businesses large and small, civil society, and the public – through advocacy, knowledge sharing, data tracking and reporting, via technical assistance, policy advice, and in facilitating access to finance. 

As such, I underline the absolute importance of a whole of society approach in delivering a successful carbon transition for Malaysia.  

It is only through working together at local, national, regional, and global levels that we can address the existential threats posed by climate change and ensure a safe, healthy, prosperous and sustainable future for all.

Thank you.