KUCHING, Oct 19 — Sarawak would have to legislate a law in order to claim for carbon credit, says Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said at the moment, the state does not have provisions in its law to treat carbon credit as a trading commodity.
“We have to upgrade our law so that we are able to claim carbon credit and then be recognised as a green state,” he said at the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signing ceremony between Craun Research Sdn Bhd and Knowledge Integration Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd and Nitsei Sago Industries Sdn Bhd held at a hotel here today.
Carbon credit is a term for any tradeable certificate or permit that aims to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while promoting the use of renewable energy.
Abang Johari pointed out that Sarawak is currently on the right track towards producing green technology.
“The state government has always given focus to green technology and right now, we are carrying out research on hydrogen and apparently this research can produce a new approach for us to produce hydrogen through the process of hydrolysis using water, which is a renewable energy,” he said.
In addition, he noted that the use of sago waste to produce biogas for domestic supply at a sago waste treatment plant in Balingian, Mukah will not only solve environmental issues caused by sago processing activities but also enable people in the area to pay less for domestic gas.
“In my opinion, if we can produce biogas from sago waste, this is one of the activities that enable us to produce byproducts out of green technology,” he added.
He suggested for Craun Research Sdn Bhd, an agency under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research carrying out research and development activities for the development of sago crops and its industry, to also look into the study of oil palm.
“If we can treat waste from sago palm, perhaps we can also do the same for oil palm because I see that the waste produced from our oil palm can be processed as well.
“One of the products from this is fertiliser and that can be done as the basis for us to add value to oil palm waste and perhaps they can also be used to produce renewable based gas.
“If that happens, this gas can be used domestically or as gas distribution under the state seeing that we now have autonomy on gas distribution. We can build a distribution netwrok for the gas to be used by our communities that is produced by either sago or oil palm,” he said.
On the MoA, Abang Johari congratulated Craun Research Sdn Bhd, Knowledge Integration Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd and Nitsei Sago Industries Sdn Bhd for the smart partnership and collaboration which will work towards changing the landscape of Sarawak’s sago industry.
He later witnessed the signing of the MoA which was signed by Craun Research Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Zaidell Husaini while Knowledge Integration Services (Singapore) Pte Ltd and Nitsei Sago Industries Sdn Bhd were representated by its representatives Dino Bidari and Ng Yong Kiang respectively.
Also present were Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Amar Michael Manyin Jawong, Welfare, Community Well-Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Sri Fatimah Abdullah, Assistant Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dr Annuar Rapaee and Craun Research Sdn Bhd Board of Directors chairman Kameri Affandi. — Borneo Post
