Speaking during a media round table session, he cited the government’s “ambitious but achievable” announcements as a promising foundation.

“I think that it (the announcements) creates the right framework to send signals and one thing that we hear from American companies, but also from other multinational companies, is that they’re looking for renewable energy as they make investment decisions.

“They’re very aware of the fact that they’re increasingly judged on their own ability to decarbonise their production and supply chain,” he told reporters.

Last April, then natural resources, environment and climate change minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said Malaysia was in talks with richer nations, hoping to follow its neighbours Indonesia and Vietnam in striking deals to transition towards more renewable energy.

Malaysia, which relies on coal and natural gas for 75% of its power needs, is trailing its Southeast Asian neighbours on clean energy expansion.

Four months later that same year, the government launched the National Energy Transition Roadmap, with Putrajaya allocating a RM2 billion “seed fund” as an energy transition facility.

Malaysia, a signatory to the 2015 Paris treaty, is also obliged under the agreement to reduce its carbon intensity by 45% of 2005 levels by 2030.

Kagan said expanding clean energy initiatives would benefit both countries and align with global efforts to reduce emissions.

“Overall, I think there’s an interest in Malaysia because Malaysia is ultimately one of the countries that actually is really affected by climate change,” he said.

“The sad thing is, the climate crisis affects almost every country. Some countries are affected more in the short term.”