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Towering skyscrapers, luxuries of a strong currency and the whirr of electric cars whizzing silently by – it’s images like these that flash across our minds when we imagine a developed country. But there exists a threat towards this utopian future we envision – climate change. In this era of vast environmental destruction, measurements of development and wellbeing should  include standards of environmental quality. A country should only be considered truly modernized and developed if they invest significant effort to lower their environmental impact. 

Global warming is the worst it has ever been. Eleven of the last twelve years rank among the 12 warmest years ever recorded since records began in 1850. The adverse consequences of global warming manifests itself in the form of Antarctica’s ice melting, the Amazon rainforest going up in smoke and temperatures in Europe soaring to record levels. In no small part, Malaysia’s transport industry is partially to blame for the chain of environmental catastrophes. 

Sadly, few Malaysians pay attention to the matter. In countries like the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, climate strikes are organised on a large scale and plays a big role in raising awareness within the population. Just two months ago, more than 6 million people across the world joined a global climate strike to protest against climate change in their home country. More than 1 million Italian citizens took to the streets, while Spain and the Netherlands reported more than 3.5 percent of its population joined the demonstrations. 

It is time for Malaysians to take notice. Malaysia emits 254.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, placing us 25th amongst countries that emits the most carbon dioxide in the world. Most of the CO2 emission comes from the oil and gas industry. Researchers have found that given 30 years of inaction, Kuala Lumpur’s climate will be similar to that of Palembang today, whose Air Pollutant Reading (API) hit a record of 921 last month and painted the sky dystopian red. This includes a rise in the average temperature by 2.3 degrees, which has never been seen before. 

Cheap petrol prices has to go. Just this year, the Malaysian government spent almost RM1.89 billion to subsidize petrol. The “generosity” of governments (including but not exclusive to Malaysia) subsidizing the production of fossil fuel may result in global carbon dioxide emission to reach 41 gigatons by 2040. This is quadruple the amount that could potentially cause the world to overheat. High petrol prices will certainly put a strain on our economy. However, there are efforts that can be taken to help the economy better adapt to this change, such as gradually decreasing subsidies whilst simultaneously redirecting these financial resources towards increasing grants for electric cars, which have a much lower carbon footprint. 

Many developed countries are encouraging the use of electric cars in their efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Electric cars solely function on batteries. By adopting the use of electric cars, we can lessen our dependence on petrol.

However, there are significant challenges in introducing the use of electric cars amongst Malaysians. Currently, it is much too expensive. This is mainly due to the fact that these vehicles need to be imported from Japan and the United States. There are, however, two ways the government could reduce the cost for the layman. Firstly, by investing more resources to produce our own electric cars and secondly, by redirecting subsidies for petrol towards subsidies for electric cars.

Take the United Kingdom as an example. The UK government has provided a £3,500 subsidy for individuals wishing to buy an electric car. On top of that, an additional £500 is given for home charging points to recharge their electric vehicles at home. Alternatively, the Norwegian government encourages electric car uptake by allowing these vehicles to drive on the bus lane and offer huge discounts on tolls. These incentives and subsidies could be adopted by the Malaysian government to make electric cars more affordable.

To maximise carbon footprint reduction, we need to complement the shift towards cleaner vehicles with an improvement to our public transport system. In order to do so, we should firstly, improve the existing public transport. A large area in need of improvement is the time efficiency. For example, the infamously unreliable Rapid KL Bus should consider utilising artificial intelligence to recognise traffic patterns, thereby raising the accuracy of bus timings.  Secondly, there should be an increase in the variety of public transport in small cities. This will create a more efficient and equitable public transport system across the entire country, catering to both the urban and rural population. Carpooling services, such as GrabShare, should also be encouraged to reduce the amount of personal vehicles on the road. 

The future of transportation is one that relies less on personal cars, and more on communal transport and electric vehicles. Making it easier and cheaper to move away from petrol guzzling vehicles is a first step on the long and arduous trek battling climate change.