By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, May 15: Sarawak will impose a Forest Ecosystem Fee (FEF) of five per cent on the value of traded carbon.
Deputy Premier and Minister of Natural Resources and Urban Development II (MUDeNR) Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said the FEF rate is competitive and affordable to encourage the participation of forest carbon project developers in Sarawak.
“In addition, the government also levies an annual land use tax for carbon trading based on the size of the licensed area.
“If these fee and tax rates are not equivalent to the rates used internationally, the existing legislation allows revisions to be made on the rates in question,” he said when presenting his ministerial winding-up speech in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUS) sitting here today.
He also said so far, the carbon pricing formula at the international level has not been finalised.
“Therefore, the price of carbon that is traded at the global level at this time is based on the agreement between willing buyer and willing seller,” he added.
Awang Tengah further told the august House that since the formulation of the Forests (Forest Carbon Activity) Rules in 2022, a total of 13 forest carbon research permit applications have been received.
Of these 13 applications, one forest carbon licence is in the final production process, two have been issued, seven still in the evaluation process and three have been rejected.
Meanwhile, he said information about carbon initiative can be found on the website of the Sarawak Forest Department.
“In accordance with the requirements of the International Carbon Standard, forest carbon licencees are required to display information about forest carbon projects on their respective websites.
“In addition, information on forest carbon projects can also be accessed through the An International Carbon Standard Registry website. This registry is an international centralised system compiling the records and status of a company’s Verified Carbon Unit,” he explained. — DayakDaily
