The United Kingdom and Malaysia teamed up in a groundbreaking collaboration to develop the clean growth sectors as a critical response to the urgent global challenge of climate change. This strategic alliance aims to drive innovation and investment in the energy and manufacturing sectors, as well as promoting green finance and sustainable infrastructure development.
Through this collaboration, the UK and Malaysia launched a Clean Growth Handbook to promote clean growth opportunities in Malaysia, while providing insights and recommendations for collaboration between Malaysian and UK organisations to tackle climate change and accelerate sustainable economic growth.
The launch was jointly officiated by the British High Commissioner to Malaysia, H.E. Charles Hay and YB Rafizi Ramli, Minister of Economy Malaysia. The Minister expressed his gratitude for the collaboration between the UK and Malaysia in the clean growth sector, noting that, “The UK is a shining example for Malaysia to emulate in this sector. From 1990 to 2019, while Malaysia’s GDP increased by 389% and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions rose by 289%, the UK successfully reduced its emissions by 43%, while growing its economy by two-thirds.”
“Malaysia’s aspiration is to be a net zero country by 2050, the same year the Malaysian economy is expected to triple in size. Malaysia has also unconditionally pledged to reduce its carbon intensity by 45% by 2030. To realise this, Malaysia has rolled out the National Energy Policy 2022-2040 that intends to fundamentally transform our primary energy supply to move away from coal to cleaner sources, while managing an optimal trade-off of the energy trilemma of security, affordability, and sustainability,” said Rafizi.
High Commissioner Charles Hay said, “Over the years, the UK has been able to support Malaysia’s climate ambition and just transition, through delivery of a wide range of projects cutting across energy, transport, green finance and many other thematic areas. Our 2022 bilateral Climate Partnership MoU demonstrates our commitment to continue to work closely with Malaysia to address environmental challenges, through policy, trade and diplomacy.”
The newly launched handbook, which is commissioned by the British High Commission Kuala Lumpur, identifies collaboration opportunities with UK companies that can provide valuable expertise and insights for Malaysian organisations. It also evaluates the UK’s clean growth journey and ecosystem, highlighting areas where the UK’s expertise can complement Malaysia’s efforts to advance the agenda.
The Handbook focuses on four priority sectors – power, transport, buildings, and manufacturing – that have the potential to influence large scale change on the economy and environment due to their higher greenhouse gas emissions and gross added value contributions. Within each sector, the Handbook provides market overviews and growth opportunities in key subsectors. This is complemented by collaboration opportunities with UK companies that have built up considerable expertise and lessons learned that Malaysian organisations can draw on.
Recent fruitful collaborations include the UK-Malaysia Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions Programme, Low Carbon Energy and Future Cities Programmes, the launch of the centralised sustainability platform by Bursa Malaysia and the London Stock Exchange, and the exploration of carbon capture, and storage clusters in Malaysia by PETRONAS and Storegga.
While there are many clean growth opportunities to pursue, the right enabling environment must be provided to support uptake by the private sector. Nine enablers for clean growth have been identified. For each enabler, the state of play in Malaysia is explored together with areas for further development.
Jennifer Lopez, Chief Executive Officer of the British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce, praised the initiative, saying, “The Handbook is an excellent example of the opportunities for collaboration between the UK and Malaysia in the clean growth sector. By presenting unique opportunities for investors looking to enter the clean growth market in Malaysia, the report’s recommendations can help Malaysia achieve its net zero goals, making it an attractive investment destination for those looking to invest in sustainable economic growth. By working together, the UK and Malaysia can drive innovation and develop new solutions to build a cleaner, greener future for both countries and the world.”
The Handbook is co-produced by Arup, a global sustainable development consultancy, as a useful starting point for Malaysia’s private and public sectors, key players in the clean growth sector and new entrants to the clean growth market in Malaysia to inspire and highlight the possible pathways that they can take in their clean growth journey. Murali Ram, Cities & Advisory Malaysia Leader of Arup said “Clean growth unlocks new avenues of economic growth for Malaysia, while accelerating the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The collaborations demonstrated in this Handbook bring to life the priorities outlined in the Twelfth Malaysia Plan that will improve energy affordability and security, and foster the creation of new industries and homegrown innovation.”