The April 22-23 summit, hosted by President Joe Biden, will feature leaders from 40 countries including Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam, and Lim said Malaysia’s exclusion serves as a “sad joke”, reflecting its decline in climate change activities.

“Up to now, Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has failed to explain why Vietnam can be invited, but Malaysia was excluded from this summit,” Lim said in a statement today.

“Tuan Ibrahim should wake up and set his vision on how to integrate climate change measures into the work of government agencies and the way forward to reclaim our climate change reputation.

“Sadly, as a leader of a party whose colour is green, Tuan Ibrahim has short-changed the country with his poor performance in pushing green policies until Malaysia is seen as inferior to Vietnam.”

Lim also said that despite denials by Tuan Ibrahim, the Perikatan Nasional government has allowed Malaysia to slowly become the dumping ground for “clean” plastic waste from the US.

“If Tuan Ibrahim Man is so confident about how plastic waste can be ‘clean’, then he should allow a ‘clean’ plastic waste factory to be built next to his home in Kelantan or Pahang,” he said.

The White House said last month that the invitees to the summit organised and hosted by Biden included heads of countries that are demonstrating strong climate leadership, are especially vulnerable to climate impacts or are charting innovative pathways.

Among those to have spoken out about the snub are former prime minister Najib Razak, who asked whether Malaysia is being seen as “lagging behind” in the fight against climate change and pollution.