PUTRAJAYA, May 16 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The government will embark on a scoping study to assess whether there is a need for a climate change act in the country.
Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin said the study, to be done through a collaboration between Malaysia Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia) and United Kingdom (UK) Government, is expected to be completed in 24 months.
“After we have signed this collaboration, the first thing we will do is the scoping study on whether or not there is a need (for an act), and how we do that.
“By January 2020, we will roughly have an outcome of the first phase of the study,” she told a press conference after the exchange of letters between the GreenTech Malaysia and the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) here today.
The ceremony was held in conjunction with British Special Representative for Climate Change, Nick Bridge’s courtesy call on the minister.
Should the act come into force, Yeo said the main impact would be on institutionalising climate change actions across businesses and private sectors.
She said the four-year collaboration programme would also benefit Malaysia on addressing critical climate change initiatives including institutional framework, as well as capacity building through skills-share and secondment of technical assistance.
“It will also allow Malaysia to study and adapt the UK 2050 Pathway Carbon Calculator to the Malaysian context,” she said.
Meanwhile, Bridge said the UK had just celebrated the 10th anniversary of the 2008 Climate Change Act which was very popular and an effective piece of legislation in the country.
However, he said every country may enact the law in its own way according to local conditions.
Bridge said the UK had set a long term goal for decarbonising its economy and took responsibility to reach what would be a global average carbon footprint for each citizen.
“We have statutory carbon budgets. So every five years we must be reducing our footprint. We are halfway to our decarbonising goal,” he said.
The collaboration programme under the United Kingdom Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UKPACT) Cooperation aims to strengthen, promote and develop climate change and low carbon transition collaboration between the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.
— NNN-BERNAMA