Malaysia aims to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 45 percent, by the year 2030.

The government in submitting its climate change action plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), stated that it was pleased to communicate its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), together with relevant clarifying information.

The plan also known as the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) comes in advance of a new universal climate change agreement to be used at the UN climate conference in Paris, in December this year.

Malaysia is one of the 179 parties to the UNFCCC to have formally submitted their INDCs.

Based on the plan, the reduction of GHG consists of Malaysia taking its own effort in working towards this effort by 35 percent (unconditional basis) and another 10 percent is conditioned upon receipt of climate finance, technology transfer and capacity building from other developed countries.

The duration given for the implementation is ten years beginning 2021.

The INDC was developed through participatory process through an inter ministerial/agencies working group. Consultations with stakeholders were conducted to obtain inputs on possible measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

There are five main sectors involved in the INDC which includes energy, agriculture, industrial processes, waste and Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF).

Malaysia’s total GHG emissions represent about 0.6% of global emissions in 2011. The emission intensity per GDP was 0.41 tCO2eq/RM1000 for that year.

This represents a reduction of about 23 % from the 2005 values. The total GHG emissions including removals by LULUCF sinks is about 0.05% of global emissions.

In 2014, Malaysia developed A Roadmap of Emissions Intensity Reduction in Malaysia.

The study indicated that Malaysia has opportunities across various sectors to meet the reduction target of 40% emissions intensity reduction of GDP.

However, while these opportunities exist, considerable efforts would be required to realise these emissions reductions in light of the challenges and barriers.

Among these barriers are technological costs, institutional framework and capacity and LULUCF legacy issues.

The country continues to allocate financial resources for the implementation of climate change mitigation programmes through both public and private sector initiatives.

The climate-related policies are implemented along with national priorities such as poverty eradication, improving quality of life and development.

Meanwhile, The Tenth Malaysia Plan (2011-2015) focussed on sustainable growth and introduced mitigation strategies to reduce emissions of GHG.

Three significant financial stools were introduced to promote sustainability measures. These consist of the introduction of a feed-in-tariff (FiT) mechanism in conjunction with the Renewable Energy Policy and Action Plan (2010) to help finance renewable energy investment, providing fiscal incentives and funding for green technology investments and promoting projects eligible for carbon credits.

The Malaysian government will continue to pursue its green growth goal under the 11th Malaysia plan (RMK-11) for (the purpose of) sustainability and resilience.

These include strengthening enabling environment for green growth, adoption of sustainable consumption and production, conserving natural resources and strengthening resilience against climate change and natural disasters.

These actions will further reduce Malaysia’s carbon footprint.