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By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, Sept 7: Sarawak is emerging as a prominent leader despite being a relative newcomer to the carbon market sector, according to Bursa Malaysia executive vice president and head of Carbon Market Dr Chen Wei Nee.
She praised Sarawak for its remarkable progress in the carbon market and highlighted the State’s prominent position as the leading state in Malaysia in this sector.
“Sarawak’s extensive forested area offers significant opportunities in the field of carbon trading. In addition, the State has made amendments to their Land Codes and Forests Ordinance,” she said during the fourth plenary session on ‘New Energy Solutions’ on the second day of the Sustainability and Renewable Energy Forum (SAREF) 3.0 held today at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here.
Dr Chen continued, “Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, I believe, is way ahead of the game in terms of relying less on hydrocarbons and more on clean energy.
“This is where carbon credit sales can assist the State government as well as the nation in transitioning and meeting the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) commitment.
“In terms of carbon capture opportunities, Sarawak has numerous opportunities to generate carbon credits.”
When discussing the carbon market, she explained that it functions as a system that rewards entities for actively reducing their emissions, aiming to provide incentives for such actions.
Bursa Carbon Exchange (BCX), touted to be the world’s first Shariah-compliant carbon exchange, was launched in December 2022, and it successfully held its first carbon auction on March 16 this year, with around RM7.7 million in carbon credits sold.
During her welcoming remarks for the Biogas Roundtable 2.0 at Bursa Malaysia’s East Malaysia Palm & Lauric Oils Price Outlook Conference & Exhibition 2023 (emPOC2023) held at a local hotel here on Sept 4, Dr Chen mentioned that BCX is waiving the RM6,000 onboarding fee for all commodity traders or brokers, financial institutions, project developers or corporates who are registering to join the BCX ecosystem this year.
The ‘Plenary Session 4: New Energy Solutions’ featured panellists including Dr Chen herself, Deputy State Secretary (Economic Planning and Development) Datu Dr Muhammad Abdullah Zaidel, TotalEnergies Renewables head of Hydropower Development Nicolas Werkoff, China Energy International Group (CEEC), CEIG (M) Sdn Bhd managing director Ding Qian, Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) Corporate Strategy senior vice president Abang Arabi Abang Narudin, and Alain Kilajian (International Hydropower Association (IHA) senior Sustainability specialist) who is the moderator. — DayakDaily
