From Rio Earth Summit to COP26: Malaysia’s pledges, political leadership, policies, administrative apparatus and performance

Abstract

This paper charts Malaysia’s green journey, beginning with its pledge at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 to its most recent commitment at the COP26 (Conference of Parties 26) in 2021. Malaysia’s nationally-determined contributions (NDC) have progressed (as they should be) to the present ambitious claim that the nation will be carbon neutral by 2050. Malaysia has been led by several prime ministers during this 30 years journey. Despite coming from different political shades (especially in the last four years) their commitment to the green agenda has been unwavering, rhetorically at least until when the governments’ actions are scrutinised. Understandably, balancing climate change imperatives and socio-economic progress is not easy. To the layman, the series of policies and related documents unveiled over the course of the duration seem disconnected and do not add up to make a complete whole. Various parts of the administrative apparatus have been assigned the responsibility to address the green agenda through the years, though the disconnect of the various government documents suggests that they may not be in conversation with one another. All Paris Agreement signatories are required to submit biennial update reports (BUR) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). In 2021, one major investigation by a reputable US newspaper accused Malaysia, just like many other countries, of under-reporting its greenhouse emissions to UNFCC, which the Malaysian government strongly denied. Making climate change pledges is the easy bit, fulfilling those pledges while addressing the nation’s aspirations is not easy. This challenge also manifests in policy formulation, administration and measurement methodology conundrum.