Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) and other Malaysian public-listed companies (PLC) have expressed interest in producing credits for the planned Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM).
Bursa Malaysia CEO Muhamad Umar Swift said that in addition to developing the carbon exchange, it was also seeking parties to produce the carbon credits.
He said the VCM will help Malaysian companies to remain competitive in the country’s exporting markets.
In addition, it will provide a mechanism for Malaysian companies to offset their carbon obligations in export countries, Muhamad Umar said this during a session on “Corporate Sustainability & Environment, Social and Governance [ESG] Investing”, organised by the School of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Bernama reported.
Malaysia’s third-largest trading partner, the EU, is seeking to impose a levy on imported carbon-intensive products.
Consequently, Malaysian exporters may have to pay a tax in order to sell their products in the EU market, which is where the VCM could help to neutralise the impact, he said.
By achieving carbon neutrality of their products, exporters can ship their products to the EU seamlessly, he added.
“We wanted to look at how we can address the threat and opportunity,” Muhamad Umar said.
On ESG, he said Bursa Malaysia has issued a public consultation document to seek feedback on the mandatory disclosure of various ESG metrics.
“This will make it easier for investors to understand what companies are doing to meet their ESG requirements,” he said.
Muhamad Umar said the Covid-19 pandemic has put ESG on the roadmap of many companies.
At present, there were 79 PLCs in the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Shariah Index, which was launched in July 2021 to cater to investor demand for ESG and shariah-compliant index solutions.
THE STAR (MALAYSIA)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
