Low Carbon News in Malaysia in March 2014
Approvals and Implementation Committee (AIC) Endorse “Low Carbon Society Blueprint for Iskandar Malaysia 2025”
Date: 20 March 2014
Approvals and Implementation Committee (AIC) consists of Johor State’s Chief Minister, Chief Executive of Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) and representatives of Ministries whose main role to monitor strategic development and investment in Iskandar Malaysia, the fast growing region in Malaysia enthusiastically approves “Low Carbon Society Blueprint for Iskandar Malaysia 2025”. The blueprint is a concrete policy action plan with carbon emission quantitative target guides Iskandar Malaysia to achieve low carbon society status in future. It is the first example climate change action plan at regional level in ASEAN countries and expected to become a model for creating low carbon regions development in Asia. The blueprint was formulated by the joint efforts of prominent research institutes from both Japan and Malaysia namely Kyoto University, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, National Institute of Environmental Studies and Okayama University.
The “Low Carbon Society Blueprint for Iskandar Malaysia 2025,” an action plan for the realization of a low carbon society formulated by an international team of researchers from Kyoto University, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and other institutions was formally approved on March 20, 2014. Endorsement was granted by the Approvals and Implementation Committee (AIC)* . This is the first example of a practical formulation of a low carbon blueprint at the regional level (equivalent to Japan’s prefectural level) in an ASEAN country, and it is expected to become a model for creating low carbon cities in Asian nations.
In order to realize a low carbon society, there need to be plans for long-term activities stretching over a decade in a wide range of areas, such as energy, industry, commerce, agriculture, and transportation, and plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with these activities. These plans have to be implemented in a way that links them in an integrated and quantitative way with the region’s plans for socioeconomic development. Japanese research institutes, such as Kyoto University and the National Institute of Environmental Studies, have approached this challenge by developing methods for formulating low carbon society scenarios, which use as their principal tools quantitative socioeconomic simulation models and reduction technology simulation models.
The “Low Carbon Society Blueprint for Iskandar Malaysia 2025” was formulated using these methods based on joint research with Malaysia, and consists of twelve major actions – concrete policy actions with quantitative targets – for the realization of a low carbon society. Representing best practice for formulating a low carbon society action plan at the regional level, the project is expected to become a showcase for the Asian region.
The receipt of AIC endorsement establishes a framework for implementing policies to reach targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the region by 40% relative to business-as-usual emission levels by 2025, and will add further impetus to the trend towards a low carbon society in Malaysia.
The “Low Carbon Society Blueprint for Iskandar Malaysia 2025” was formulated under JST and JICA’s joint Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development program (SATREPS), as part of the “Development of Low Carbon Society Scenarios for Asian Regions” research project headed by principal investigator professor Yuzuru Matsuoka at the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University. Participating institutions in Japan are Kyoto University, the National Institute of Environmental Studies, and Okayama University, and their counterparts in Malaysia are Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, the Iskandar Regional Development Authority, the Federal Department of Town and Country Planning Malaysia, and Malaysian Green Technology Corporation.
The details of the blueprint were reported and published at COP18 (the eighteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC) and CMP8 (the eighth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol) held in November 2012 in Doha, Qatar, and also communicated to the people of Malaysia by Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak on television and in the press on December 11 of the same year.
* AIC:
The Iskandar Regional Development Authority, a statutory body established by the Malaysian government, established the Approvals and Implementation Committee (AIC) to monitor and coordinate activities of government entities and strategic proposals and investments related to the Iskandar Development Region, “Iskandar Malaysia.”
References: http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/news_data/h/h1/news7/2013_1/140320_1.htm
Prepared by: Teh Bor Tsong, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia