By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Aug 26: The State government is working on putting in place a regulatory framework for carbon trading that will be in compliance with international protocol in efforts to bring in a new revenue stream as Sarawak takes steps in transitioning to the green economy.
Premier of Sarawak Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said that Deputy Minister of Energy and Environmental Sustainability Dr Hazland Abang Hipni had gone for a study visit to Lisbon on the matter and will be working together with Verified Carbon Standard (Verra) to establish a concrete proposal for Sarawak’s carbon trading system.
Verra is a well-known international non-profit organisation and standard setter that certifies carbon emissions reduction.
“The next area we (Sarawak) will be active(ly) (explored) is carbon capture, utilisation and storage. We have amended the Sarawak Land Code to provide provisions on how we can store carbon and do carbon trading.
“This is something new and there are international protocols that we have to comply with on carbon trading,” he said when witnessing the symbolic handover of Letter of Award for the construction and fit out of Shell Malaysia Upstream Headquarters at Miri Times Square, Marina ParkCity in Miri today.
Abang Johari emphasised that Sarawak is very fortunate to be in a strategic location that is geologically stable and outside the ring of fire, making it an ideal and safe location for carbon storage and thus, the potential of economic activities along with it.
With multitude of action plans implemented to grow and diversify Sarawak’s economy including the oil and gas sector that has drawn major companies to set up their plants in Sarawak including PTTEP Hong Kong on sour gas reserves as well as Sumitomo and Samsung on hydrogen production, the Premier hopes to see Sarawak’s gross domestic product (GDP) double from over RM120 billion to RM280 billion by 2030.
“All these will bring about a lot of benefits to Sarawak’s economy through PCDS 2030 (Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy) where we expect both the public and private sectors” contributions.
“Initially, we targeted RM64 billion injection into the State’s economy but with all these investments, we have revised it to more than RM100 billion up to 2030,” he explained.
With that, Abang Johari pointed out that Sarawak is also aggressively upgrading its infrastructure including digital connectivity to build an ecosystem that will benefit the private sector as well as the society at large.
“This is the way forward for Sarawak. It is a very ambitious plan but I hope with this sort of unity that we have, political stability, and with your support, I think we can achieve this plan of turning Sarawak into a developed and advanced State,” he added.
Minister of Transport Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin, Deputy Minister of Tourism Datuk Sebastian Ting, Deputy Minister of Energy and Environmental Sustainability Dr Hazland Abang Hipni, Deputy Minister of Entrepreneur Development Ripin Lamat, Sibuti MP Lukanisman Awang Sauni, Miri City Council (MCC) Mayor Adam Yii, ParkCity Group executive chairman Datuk Seri Yaw Chee Siew and Shell Malaysia chairman Ivan Tan were among those present. — DayakDaily
