GEORGE TOWN, Oct 1 — Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) welcomes the efforts of the Joint Committee of Climate Change (JC3) in accelerating climate action through the financial sector.
JC3 was established by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Securities Commission (SC) Malaysia to spur the Malaysian financial sector towards creating a low-carbon economy.
In a statement today, SAM president Meenakshi Raman lauded the efforts of BNM and SC in boosting climate action in the private sector by ensuring the domestic financial institutions are adequately measuring, mitigating and building buffers against climate risks.
She also expressed gladness that the JC3 has highlighted the importance of managing climate change, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“SAM welcomes the realisation that this has raised a further sense of urgency to the work of JC3 in supporting efforts to build resilience against climate and environmental-related events and secure an orderly transition to a more sustainable economy.
“It is vital for the efforts to push the financial sector towards making responsible and ethical financing investments in scaling up environmental and low-carbon financing, as well as in giving equal attention to investments in climate adaptation.
“The investment in climate adaptation could deal with implementing measures to increase the nation’s resilience to climate impacts, such as in the implementation of early warning systems to reduce the risk of flooding or to enable other economic activities to adapt to climate change.
“What is most startling from recent studies globally is the apparent lack of sufficient preparedness in many cities and countries around the world, including our own, in addressing the possible climate impacts of climate change,” she said.
She also stressed that Malaysian banks should put an end to fossil fuel financing and focus more on investing in renewable energy sources.
She said that although some banks were taking a phased approach to ease up on coal financing, more urgency was needed in ending this altogether.
“Already at a current 1°C rise, the world is witnessing dramatic changes in the climate, such as rainfall intensities which have not been heard of before, including in this country, as well as forest fires of mega proportions.
“Hence, doing more on climate change with the urgency required is imperative, especially in the financial sector, which can shape the direction of where we head,” she added. — Bernama
