KUALA LUMPUR: A Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) report has found that Malaysia climate policy efforts are disproportionate to its historical emissions and its level of development.
"Malaysia is not a major historical polluter nor a highly developed nation. Rather, this report found that considering its net emissions, Malaysia is committing 165 per cent higher than its fair share of mitigation requirements," KRI in a statement issued today with the release of its latest 159-page report entitled "What Is To Be Done? Confronting Climate Crisis in Malaysia".
It said in pursuit of low-carbon transition, Malaysia should mitigate the distributional risk to avoid burdening vulnerable groups or hindering small businesses.
"A flexible goal management system allows for adjustments based on social and climate objectives, thus ensuring the building of an equitable climate institution," it said.
KRI explained that Malaysia needs to avoid being caught out by Western double standards or cooling support for ESG amongst investors and oil companies.
"If Malaysia's regulatory and operational environment for firms is overly geared towards foreign needs domestic demands may suffer," it noted in the report.
KRI highlighted the need to recognise that what matters in "environment" is context-dependent and contested.
" Western investors are concerned about greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while Malaysians are concerned about local toxins and pollutants as well as climate adaptation."
"Yet, Europe exports its plastic waste to Malaysia. Malaysian environmental concerns should not be trumped by Western concerns. Hydrocarbon waste imports should be blocked," it said.
KRI noted that local priorities such as better pollution standards and climate adaptation to reduce physical risks need to be backed both by high-level policy support and a pro-active narrative that articulates a Malaysian climate view as opposed to a Western-centric one.
KRI said Malaysia's approach to climate action should involve hedging strategies to account for worst case scenarios where multilateralism fails to achieve the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement.
"National climate strategy must be focused on building climate resilience and security for Malaysia thus protecting the enabling conditions for our future
sustainable development."
"Industrial policies offer a far more diverse and effective toolbox with which to support climate transition compared to conventional climate policy tools such as carbon pricing," KRI said.
The research institute said there is a need to re-evaluate Malaysia's climate policy and action.
It advocates bolstering national climate strategy to reflect core national interests; strengthen the current policy framework, address long-term climate impacts and pursuing an equity-informed climate policy.