KUALA LUMPUR: Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Bhd (CGC), in collaboration with 18 participating banks, will introduce a RM1 billion portfolio guarantee scheme for environmental, social and governance financing for small and medium enterprises.
In tandem with this financial initiative, the Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3) has unveiled four other programmes aimed at expediting the shift of businesses and farmers towards sustainable, low-carbon practices. These programmes are: Greening Industrial Parks, Greening Value Chain Programme with Bursa Malaysia, ESG Jump-start Portal and Green AgriTech.
In his speech at the JC3 “Journey to Zero” Conference here today, Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said the ethos of the governing frameworks of this administration, namely Malaysia Madani and Ekonomi Madani, have sustainability at their core.
“Since taking office, we have set into place various measures to both contribute to climate action and transform our economy. Indeed, Budget 2024 continues to build on Ekonomi Madani with holistic measures to address climate change and complement other policies such as the National Energy Transition Roadmap, the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 and the Mid-Term Review of the 12th Malaysia Plan,” he said.
Nik Nazmi also urged companies and financial institutions to participate in the voluntary carbon market (VCM), one of the government’s key initiatives in its climate change agenda.
He said their participation in VCM will 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 emissions,” he added.
Nik Nazmi noted that Bursa Carbon Exchange 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 Malaysia, as a signatory to the Paris Agreement, is committed to reducing the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions across the economy by 45% which is based on gross domestic product in 2030 compared with the 2005 level as its Nationally Determined Contributions.
Meanwhile, the JC3 has released the 2023 Climate Data Catalogue on its website, which is more comprehensive – containing additional data – than the first version issued in December 2022.