KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd and the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC) are disappointed with Corporate Malaysia’s level of participation in trading of carbon credits.

Bursa Malaysia CEO Umar Swift said that he was “disappointed” by the low participation of listed companies and “would have liked to see more companies participate in the auction and initial trading of carbon credits”.

“Corporate Malaysia, do step up and show your interest to purchase or to produce carbon credits,” he said in his speech at the Malaysia’s Voluntary Carbon Market Forum 2023 yesterday.

He said Bursa Carbon Exchange (BCX) had carried out its first carbon credit auction with 15 buyers from various industries acquiring a total of 150,000 Verra-registered (Verified Carbon Standard) carbon credits.

In September, the BCX trading platform functionality for continuous trading and off-market transaction went live, with 16,500 units of carbon credits traded by 10 companies by the end of the second trading day.

“While we are happy to have hit these milestones, I must re-emphasise that the advancement of the (Voluntary Carbon Market) VCM relies heavily on early participation from Corporate Malaysia,” he added.

NRECC Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad echoed Umar’s sentiments and urged for more participation from Corporate Malaysia in supporting the government’s environmental, social, and corporate governance efforts.

“Similarly, when we increased our green electricity tariff (programme) this year, we also saw many companies that talked a lot about climate change, environment and sustainability suddenly dropped out from the programme.

“So I share this sentiment in urging Corporate Malaysia to put your money where your mouth is and support our efforts towards sustainability because for a country like Malaysia -with the size of our market, without strong support from Corporate Malaysia, we will not be able to grow (and) scale,” Nik Nazmi said.

He said the carbon markets can emerge as one of the financial enablers to support the levers, including the VCM, which “will be very important for Malaysia moving forward”.

“The success of this carbon market will require deep collaboration among many stakeholders,” he added.

In August, the government, through the Ministry of Economy, launched the National Renewable Energy Roadmap, which is anchored on six levers, to accelerate energy transition.

Umar also announced that one of Malaysia’s nature-based projects – the Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project in Sabah – is nearing its first issuance and will be ready to auction carbon credits.

“Soon enough, we hope our carbon ‘supermarket shelves’ will be stocked with Malaysian products,” he said.

The auction date will be announced once BCX’s Verra has issued Kuamut’s carbon credits.

Malaysia’s VCM handbook was launched at the forum, held in conjunction with the International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia 2023.