Blog

Readers have various reactions when reading the same information that is delivered either through catchphrases or data. Some headlines read: 

“Climate change in Malaysia: floods, less food, and water shortages – yet its people are complacent”

“Storms, floods to worsen in Malaysia, warns climate change expert”

Some countries take such headlines much more seriously, but others, like Malaysia, tend to brush it aside. It is not surprising for Malaysians to attribute extreme weather fluctuations as “an act of God” rather than acknowledge that their lifestyle might be negatively contributing towards the growth of climate catastrophes. 

But if we translate such words into figures as convincingly as Clean Malaysia does, perhaps Malaysians will start to realise the gravity of the problem. 

The cost of Climate Change in Malaysia? RM40 trillion. 
Researchers from University Malaya and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia compared two different scenarios. The first one was where Malaysia avoids tackling Climate Change, and the second where Malaysia levies punitive carbon taxes that produces successful results in transitioning to renewable energy sources. 

Based on their model, the cumulative cost of climate damage could amount to RM40 trillion by 2095. Given the right government policies, however, the whopping sum could be reduced to RM5.3 trillion. This sum can be covered by revenues from carbon taxes, estimated at RM9.5 trillion. There is hope then, for the country to slow down the deathly speed of climate change. Malaysia can do better and it must do better. 

Climate Change in the context of Malaysia
NASA Global Climate Change defines climate change to be a “long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates.” Such changes are becoming evermore negative for tropical countries like Malaysia, with research from the Crowther Lab, a Switzerland-based interdisciplinary climate research group, estimating that by 2050 we may have “climates that no major city has experienced before.” 

Energy Malaysia’s report in 2017 indicates that from 1990 to 2016, more than 90 percent of electricity generated for Peninsular Malaysia was attained from fossil fuel. Sir Robert Watson of the U.K.’s Tynall Center for Climate Change Research notes that “burning fossil fuels comes at a giant price tag which even the U.S. economy cannot afford.” 

With the US’s recent withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement, it sets a worrying precedent for the rest of the world. It is very easy for primary industry based economies like Malaysia and others in Asia to follow suit so that high economic growth can be prioritised over the need to reduce carbon emissions. 

On of the most direct economic costs of climate change is the prospect of fertile agricultural areas experiencing hotter weather and droughts, causing crop yields to decrease. For Malaysia, this is especially pertinent, with the agriculture sector contributing 7.3 percent of Malaysia’s GDP in 2018, resting at a value of RM 99.5 billion.

Additionally, as climate change worsens, we can imagine the livelihoods for B40 households will deteriorate with a reduction in crop yield, reducing their monthly income. The fall in the crop yield might also trigger higher food prices for all Malaysians, further widening inequalities in Malaysia. 

Research also suggests that the economic costs of climate change will lead to the transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, where owners of scarce resources will make higher and higher profits at the expense of the common man. 

States that have a high concentration of low-income households tend to be in low-elevation coastal zones, where rising sea-levels and soil erosions will result in frequent flooding. In the long term, this would lead to a loss of land value, causing the need to relocate the population. This excursion, although necessary, will cause a significant dent on the government’s coffers. 

How well is the government doing?
One could consider the government to be taking the warnings of climate change lightly, evidenced by reductions in allocations for the environment sector in the 2020 Budget – allocations to finance Malaysia’s Sustainable Development Goal initiatives reduced from RM 1 billion to RM 10 million. Climate change advisor for the Centre for Governance and Political Studies, Dr Renard Siew, noted that the allocation is “skewed towards adapting, rather than mitigating, the disasters that have plagued Malaysia.” 

“Mitigation is doing our part to prevent temperatures from rising. Adaptation is to assume that temperatures are rising, and to prepare for it,” Siew said. 

But there are some positives. Efforts have been made to address our dependence on palm oil – the Minister for Primary Industry, Teresa Kok, aims to certify 70 percent of palm oil plantations in Malaysia as sustainable. The government also intends to generate 20 percent of Malaysia’s energy from renewable sources by 2025, supported by an extension in the Green Income Tax Exemption incentives.

With the budget’s theme of “Driving growth and equitable outcomes towards shared prosperity”, the long-run equitable outcome is to reduce the country’s dependence on the primary industry as well as finding more sustainable and efficient ways to fuel our economy. The government must implement long-term structural changes and lead the fight against climate change.

Topics such as Malaysia being a leader for change within the ASEAN community as well as our continuous reliance on palm oil will be discussed in our upcoming flagship event, Projek Amanat Negara XVII. PAN XVII will take place in Cardiff University on the 15th of February. Save the date!