19th AIM WORKSHOP , NIES TSUKUBA JAPAN Dec 13-14 2013- Ho Chin Siong UTM

Low Carbon Society Blueprint and Roadmap towards Low Carbon Iskandar Malaysia 2025
The Malaysian government recognises that climate change and the adverse consequences
arising from it are real and has taken positive policy actions to address climate change. A
comprehensive ecosystem for an environmentally sustainable framework has been
proposed to protect the environmental quality of life and caring for the planet whilepursuing economic growth as well as development towards a high income nation status.
In order to carry out this agenda, there is a need to increase the awareness of all Malaysians
that environmental sustainability is a shared responsibility for attaining a low carbon society.
In addition, as Malaysia is experiencing rapid urbanisation, it is important to develop low
carbon, vibrant and liveable cities or conurbation/ economic growth corridors that adopt
climate resilient growth strategies. The formulation of a Low carbon society blueprint forregional and local authorities is one of the approaches to develop climate resilient growthstrategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) at local and regional level.
This blueprint is one of major research outputs of our SATREPS (Science and Technology
Research Partnership for Sustainable Development) project on the Development of LowCarbon Society for Asian Regions sponsored by Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). The main universities involved in thiscollaboration work are Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Kyoto University, National
Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), and Okayama University.
The Low carbon society blueprint for Iskandar Malaysia not only complements and updates
the earlier Low Carbon City 2025 - Sustainable Iskandar Malaysia report (2009) but also
embraces the 12 Actions Plan to guide development towards climate resilient urban
development for Iskandar Malaysia. This will support the vision of building a strong
sustainable metropolis of International Standing. Up-to-date we have completed thefollowing supporting documentsa) Low carbon society blueprint main textb) Low Carbon Roadmapc) Iskandar Malaysia- actions for Low Carbon Futured) Workbook for Ecolife challengee) Low Carbon Malaysia 2030
The collaborative research approach in this project is unique because it gathers bothinternational and local experts/scientists to provide scientific findings and quantitativemodelling of carbon dioxide emissions to Iskandar Malaysia Development Authority (IRDA)
who are the policy makers. The other unique feature is that the blueprint consists of 12
proposed actions which are based on the active participation and consensus building ofmajor stakeholders in Iskandar Malaysia. This will ensure that the detailed proposed
measures and programme will be aligned to the local community needs. In line with theMalaysian Government’s effort to achieve a 40% voluntary reduction of CO2 emission
intensity by 2020, the implementation of the blueprint will facilitate the low carbon
development of Iskandar Malaysia. Being one of the fastest growing regions in Malaysia, thisdemonstrates the realisation of how a low carbon society can be achieved by decoupling
CO2 emissions and economic growth.