SUMMARY
Malaysia vision and pathway towards Low carbon Society (LCS)
Ho Chin Siong
Faculty of Built Environment,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Malaysia
Malaysia being a young and fast growing nation, the role of economic growth andimproving the lives of the people is significant. Presently it is undergoing a rapid
industrialization process and has investment in manufacturing, infrastructure development
and hence has high demand for energy consumption. The rapid economic growth places aheavy demand and stress on resources means that a continued dependence on energy, inparticular on fossil fuel is important to propel further growth. Although Malaysia wasblessed with relatively large tracts of natural tropical forests, (almost 60% of its total landarea), just like other developing countries, some of the forest areas may be converted into
agriculture and other urban use to generate job opportunities for the growing population.
The pressure for more forested land and peat land being converted into plantations isbecoming more serious with escalating crude palm oil (CPO) prices and the hype over bio
fuel, oil palm ventures. The fact remains that peat and forest are vital carbon sink and that
disturbed peat or forest will be a significant source of carbon emission
The Roadmap to achieve a Low Carbon Society certainly requires a combination of policy
strategy implementation, institutional, technological innovation, and behavioral changes In
the case of Malaysia, the key options to achieve Low carbon society are summarized
below:(i) Introduction of more pragmatic and cost effective ways of reducing greenhousegases emissions for example through greater use of public transport(ii) Protection of the carbon sinks such as forest and peat/ wetland as Malaysia has alarge green asset (forest)(iii) Motivation of desired behavioral changes in cutting wastage or use of 3R(reuse, reduce and recycle)(iv) Designing and building more energy efficient cities or eco villages.
(v) Allocating major investment in R &D in green technology and energy efficienttechnology / engines(vi) Conducting more research collaboration between experts from Asean and developed
nations on climate change and mitigation measures on CO2 emission.
Based on the Kaya identity, we may sum up the policy recommendations on how we canachieve Low Carbon society in Malaysia by manipulating the variables in the formulae The
key options in reducing GHG emission are to reduce Per capita activity, Energy intensity
and Carbon intensity. The increase in population factor may be difficult to manage
because Malaysia is still experiencing rather high growth rate of 2.6% p.a.
- Population (Total population)
The population growth rate of 2.6% p.a. will continue to be contributed by natural increaseand migration. The rapid industrialization and modern agriculture will create job
opportunities in urban as well as rural area. However, household size may fall due to highurbanization and increasing percentage of female in the workforce. The high percentage ofabout 50% of young population (age cohort 0-14 years old) of existing demographic

profile show high potential of population growth. This increase in population willcontribute to the increase in the total GHG emission. It is important for the nation building
program to focus on both developing the economy and in improving the quality of the lifeof Malaysians. Through education, innovation and good moral values such as“safeguarding the environment” (one of the 10 principles of Islam Hadhari (Civilization
Islam), the present and future generation of Malaysian will hold to noble values to protect
the environment- Per capita activity (Activity/ Population)
This parameter refers to the activity or service per population. The affluent lifestyle,environmental awareness education and urban planning may affect the CO2 emission percapita activity. With the growing disposable income of the Malaysians, the total emission
will increase significantly if lack of environmental awareness continues to persist. In orderto reduce CO2 emission, more campaigns for environmental and eco friendly lifestyles
such as practicing the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) should be encourage. In addition,
National Physical Plan (2005) and National Urbanization policy(2006) promoting Transit
Oriented development and compact city will be able to promote greater use of public
transport and non motorized transport. Both of these policies will need to be translated intodevelopment plans at local and regional levels such as Structure Plan or Local plans so thatit can be implemented by the local planning authorities.
- Energy intensity (Energy/ activity)
This parameter measures the energy per activity. Reduction in energy intensity may beachieved by energy efficiency or material efficiency measures. With the setting up of theMalaysia Energy Centre (PTM), efforts to improve Energy Efficiency (EE) through thepromotion of low energy building and passive architecture design in buildings would befurther enhanced. Energy efficiency devices should also be used not only in buildings, but
only for vehicles and industrial process.
- Carbon intensity (Carbon/Energy)
This parameter refers to the carbon content in each energy source. The present trend of ourenergy sources need to be further diversified to wider use renewable energy such as bio
fuel, hydro, solar and possibly alternative fuel such as possibly nuclear power in the future.
It is also important to establish and support cleaner production programs with the use ofCDM.
- Preservation of Forest as Carbon sink
Malaysia as a tropical country which is endowed with more than 50% forest cover is a
precious green asset capable of acting as carbon sink. Malaysia, among countries blessedwith a wealth of tropical rainforests in recent Tropical Forest Leader meeting in New York
(Joint statement, 24 September 2007) agree to intensifying collective efforts for themanagement, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests, along withachievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Rio
Conference’s Declaration on Forests, Agenda 21 and the Millennium Development Goals.
For a fast growing nation with rapid urbanization such as Malaysia, implementation ofplanning of low carbon cities/ region concept can be an effective policy strategy to achieve
the Vision and Path way towards LCS