KUCHING, June 10: Sarawak must first develop its downstream capabilities especially in the energy sector before it can tap into the export market, says Sarawak Deputy Minister for Energy and Environmental Sustainability Dr Hazland Abang Hipni.
He noted that climate change is a global issue and the main contributor to the increase of the Earth’s temperature is carbon dioxide.
Thus, to solve or at least reduce the rate of climate change, he said the world needs to prepare and strategise on environmental sustainability. Otherwise, in the next five years, climate change would be irreversible.
“In the case of Sarawak, it is blessed with natural resources whereby 70 per cent of its landmass is forests and it also has lots of rivers and rain.
“Because of that, hydrogen is one of our future energy sources and it will be one of the world’s future energy to be used by industrialised countries,” he said when speaking during a panel discussion at the Sarawak-Korea Energy Business Forum 2022 held at Waterfront Hotel Kuching yesterday (June 9).
Dr Hazland further said that the State government has established a new ministry called the Ministry of Energy and Environmental Sustainability which will work on strategies to address the issue of climate change and to tap into Sarawak’s natural resources for economic development.
The State has also introduced Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), an economic region and development corridor to attract foreign investments with the intention to create new sources of wealth for Sarawak and move the economy up the value chain.
“It is important to firstly develop Sarawak’s downstream capabilities in tapping into export market to be part of the global market value chain.
“Policy changes remained particularly in striking a balance between the need for economic growth and sustainable energy to ensure energy security for Sarawak’s entire population.
“Strong policies are also essential to overcome some of the most prevalent barriers of deployment. Thus, there is an important role for sarawak to enforce these regulatory measures,” he elaborated. — DayakDaily
