“I think the government should show more urgency in dealing with this,” former energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister Yeo Bee Yin told FMT.
In a parliamentary written reply on Tuesday, environment and water minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the ministry was still in the “early stages” of developing the framework for the Climate Change Act, which he expects to be tabled in Parliament in 2025.
“The Act is definitely not a priority for the current government. We (Pakatan Harapan) wanted to do this in 2019, but then came the Sheraton Move,” Yeo said.
“I think the minister should set an earlier deadline to table this in Parliament, say, the end of 2023? Twenty-four months from now.
“They already know that this has dragged on for a year plus, but it can be done in 24 months. It’s possible if they have the political will. The minister needs to push for it.”
In May 2019, Yeo had said it would take at least 24 months to formulate and table the Climate Change Act, adding that its main aim would be to institutionalise climate change action.
A Universiti Putra Malaysia study the year before had noted that the impact of climate change in the Malaysian context would include sea level rise, reduced crop yield, biodiversity loss, shoreline erosion and increased flood intensities.
Authored by Haliza Abdul Rahman from the university’s department of environmental and occupational health, the study also highlighted other risks such as reef bleaching, increased incidences of disease, tidal inundation of coastal areas, decreased water availability and drought.
Earlier this year, the World Bank Group and the Asian Development Bank stressed how climate change in Malaysia could exacerbate poverty and inequality due to low-income earners being economically dependent on activities where climatic conditions play a prominent role, such as agriculture, fishing and informal sectors in the urban economy.
Stating that a Climate Change Act would be crucial in formalising steps to mitigate and adapt to climate change, Yeo said the Act should also set out to boost investment in green industries.
“We need to look at how to reduce carbon emissions but, at the same time, also improve green industries and create jobs,” said the Bakri MP.
“If we create a legal framework around climate change, this will create certainty for businesses – and the Act will also serve to clarify policies.
“There will be policies by this government and that government, and all of that can change very quickly. But when you have an Act, all this can be institutionalised. The earlier this is done, the more clarity people will have.”