Govt identifies initiatives to support development of ESG-compliant mobility

Senior Minister and International Trade and Industry Minister (MITI) Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said integrating ESG elements into businesses is a growing imperative that can drive long-term value creation, encourage sustainable business practices, and attract more viable investors.

"As a holistic move, a National Level Inter-Ministry Electric Vehicle (EV) Task Force headed by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has been formed with the mandate to act as a platform to discuss the strategy and implementation of measures to drive the development of EV and the whole ecosystem nationwide.

''The new national investment framework which is premised on ESG, will focus on attracting high economic complexity and technology intensive industries that would include next-generation mobility,'' he said in his speech during the NEXTGen Malaysia event organised by BMW Group Malaysia.

Mohamed Azmin said there is still vast room for greater EV market expansion particularly in the ASEAN region.

Towards this end, the region needs to address the low maturity level of technology, which leads to high costs of production, lack of infrastructure support and scarce market acceptance.

As for Malaysia, he said efforts to create a conducive environment and putting the country on track to become a regional leader in the next-generation mobility sector have been translated through the introduction of a number of concrete policies and initiatives.

These include the National Automotive Policy, National Transportation Policy and Low Carbon Mobility Blueprint, which are set to establish a sound and comprehensive ecosystem to promote the manufacturing and assembly of energy-efficient vehicles.

''The government's focus is not only to attract and encourage investment in car manufacturing and assembly including spare parts and components related to next-generation vehicles, but also to recognise the need to stimulate consumer demand.

''To support this aspiration, several initiatives have been announced in Budget 2022 including tax exemption to import and assemble EV, road tax exemption and tax rebates for installation of EV chargers,'' he noted.

He added that the resilience of the automotive industry is closely linked to the continuous and uninterrupted supply of electrical and electronics parts as well as components mainly integrated circuits (IC).

''Even though there was minimal disruption in the global vehicle production due to shortage of ICs previously, localisation of manufacturing or assembly of EV could benefit the important presence of the semiconductor industry in the country,'' he said, adding Malaysia remained a major player in the global semiconductor supply chain.