PARLIAMENT | Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said his ministry was not involved in negotiations involving the Sabah government’s Nature Conservation Agreement (NCA).
He said the Environment and Water Ministry (Kasa) only knows what has been reported in the media about the deal, which is between Sabah and a Singaporean company on carbon credit trading.
“The federal government was not informed, referred to, or (made) involved by the Sabah government in the negotiations process for the NCA deal.
“As such, Kasa cannot provide any detailed explanations about the content of the deal.
“If the NCA deal involves international carbon credit transactions, then it will directly impact the country’s nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions aspirations.
“Kasa always welcomes the Sabah government to refer to and to involve the federal government and other stakeholders in the discussions involving the NCA deal and the carbon market mechanism in the future,” he said.
Tuan Ibrahim (above) was speaking during Minister’s Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to a question by Wong Hon Wai (Pakatan Harapan-Bukit Bendera) who asked the ministry to state their stance on the monitoring of carbon trading such as in the NCA deal between the Sabah government and a foreign company.
The NCA deal involves the Sabah government engaging the services of Singaporean firm Hoch Standard Pte Ltd to come up with nature conservation management plans.
The deal also gave the firm the exclusive rights to trade carbon credits and other natural capital in designated areas.
Malaysia’s carbon goals
When Ahmad Hassan (Warisan-Papar) pressed further about the Sabah NCA, Tuan Ibrahim reiterated that his ministry does not have any details about the agreement.
Tuan Ibrahim suggested these questions be directed at the Sabah government instead.
However, he stressed that any international carbon trading will ultimately affect Malaysia’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 at the earliest.
The minister also noted that, based on negotiations from the 2021 United Nations Climate Change conference in Glasgow, Kasa plays an important role as the “national authority” on carbon trading mechanisms.
“For this purpose, Kasa is responsible for authorising all international carbon credit transactions and implementing appropriate adjustments to ensure the transparency of the implementation,” he said.
As such, he said, any state governments that want to deal in international carbon trading will have to refer to Kasa as the national authority on this matter. - Mkini
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