MARCH 10 — Climate envoys are individuals, appointed to their positions by national governments, blocs, international entities or regional organizations, imbued with the mission to oversee and direct climate change diplomacy efforts. 

Climate Envoys appointed by national governments include France, the United States, China, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

In 2014, France had appointed its first major Climate Change Ambassador and Special Representative for the COP21 negotiations. Laurence Tubiana was appointed to this position in June 2014 by then-Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to lead international negotiations, becoming a key architect of the Paris Agreement.

In the US Todd Stern served as the US Special Envoy for Climate Change from 2009 to 2016 and was the country’s chief negotiator at the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

During the Biden Administration from January 2021 to January 2025, the United States (US) established a US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate position, to which former US Secretary of State John Kerry was appointed.

Xie Zhenhua, who served as China’s chief negotiator during key climate meetings in Copenhagen and Paris and headed China’s climate delegation from 2007 to 2018, was appointed the country’s new special climate envoy in 2021.

Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto had appointed his younger brother, businessman Hashim Djojohadikusumo, as Indonesia’s Special Envoy for Energy and the Environment and Hashim had led Indonesia’s delegation at international climate summits and negotiations, including COP29 and COP30, focusing on, amongst others, energy transition and carbon markets.

Saudi Arabia appointed Adel al-Jubeir, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, as its first-ever Climate Envoy in May 2022 to spearhead international climate diplomacy and promote the kingdom’s sustainability initiatives.

Internationally, both the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have elected climate envoys as well.

Malaysia Outlook Conference 2026 organised by IDEAS

The recent Malaysia Outlook Conference 2026 was organized by The Institute for Democracy & Economic Affairs (IDEAS) founded by YAM Tunku Zain Al-’Abidin and team and steered by Ms Aira Nur Ariana Azhari its CEO Ms Aira Nur Ariana Azhari had welcomed participants and guests to the Conference and shared that there were 3 Panels covering a diverse theme including Session 1 on Climate Governance in Malaysia: Risks, Realities and Reforms.

My article will spotlight on Session 1

Session 1 on Climate Governance in Malaysia: Risks, Realities and Reforms moderated by Afiqah Zulkifli saw Panellists YB Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad former Minister of NRE, ( Fig 1) Dr Renard Siew Yinson Holdings Berhad, Ahmad Afandi Nor Azmi Greenglaive Consulting and Datuk Ir. Ts. Dr. Mahadi Mohamad, (IMT-GT) Joint Business Council sharing their views and insights.

Moderator for Session 1 Cik Afiqah Zulkifli, Officer from IDEAS had posed this question to YB Nik Nazmi:

“YB, let’s start with the big picture. We have blueprints; the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR), Low Carbon Mobility Blueprint, sectoral plans. But net zero isn’t about one sector; It’s about deep decarbonization across all major sources.

Do we actually have system alignment across energy, transport, industry, agriculture, and waste in Malaysia? Or are we running parallel tracks that don’t connect? And how do we break the budget silos that hinder a genuine whole-of-government response?”

YB Nik Nazmi had responded and highlighted (Fig 1) that whilst blueprints and policies do overlap it is not a problem. However, in the context of Net zero it involves more than one sector and whilst there is no problem for energy, challenges exist for other areas such as forest, maritime and plastics.

YB explained that for conservation forest comes under the NRE and in other areas it comes under agriculture which is interested in extraction and not decarbonization. Plastics comes under NRE but waste is under local government. Hence YB Nik had advocated for better government coordination to maximise impact on climate initiatives.

Thus it was evident from discussions in Session 1 on Climate Governance in Malaysia: Risks, Realities and Reforms that assets key to manage and monitor to reach net zero are currently under several different Ministries with different goals and commitments and that silos do exist which require further coordination and support amongst the various Ministries.

Arising from this awareness of and challenges in Malaysia’s quest in reaching net zero requiring the strategic coordination amongst several Ministries I had during Q&A (Fig 2) underscored that YB Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad former Minister Natural Resources and Environment is both globally as well as nationally recognized for YB’s strong commitment, skills, competence and Diplomacy in the areas of Climate Change, Climate Governance and Climate Diplomacy, hence I shared with YB and all participants at this event that I would like to propose to YAB Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to please consider appointing YB Nik Nazmi as the Prime Minister’s or Malaysia’s Special Envoy on Climate Change or Climate Advisor.

Recommendation to the Government of Malaysia

Thus following my views shared at the  DEAS I would like to Propose to the Prime Minister YAB Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to please consider appointing YB Nik Nazmi as the Prime Minister’s or Malaysia’s Special Envoy on Climate Change and Diplomacy for Malaysia to have a committed and highly experienced climate expert and diplomat to develop and lead Malaysia’s Climate Strategies, plans and Diplomacy with the support of other key stakeholders from  various relevant Ministries, private sectors, NGO and the public, for the benefit of Malaysia, our rakyat and Ultimately Planet Earth.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.