The Islamic banking industry, through the VBI Community of Practitioners, has also issued the Value-based Intermediation Financing and Investment Impact Assessment Framework (VBIAF) sectoral guides, a set of detailed impact-based risk assessment toolkit for application in financing and investment decisions. Thus far, sectoral guides on palm oil, renewable energy and green energy efficiency have been issued with a few more in the pipeline. Likewise, the takaful industry has issued the VBI for Takaful Framework that integrates the principles of VBI into products and business practices that promote financial resilience and climate risk management for households and businesses. These complement the Climate 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  Change and Principle-based Taxonomy document issued in April this year that supports businesses transition paths by recognising climate risk mitigation and adaptation efforts over time. My third and final thrust that I would like to touch on relates to key prospects and opportunities to Islamic finance. Malaysia has thus far been at the forefront in the global halal economy. The nation’s success is attributed to a strong supportive ecosystem of which Islamic finance is a key pillar. The Malaysian Islamic finance industry players have been supporting Malaysia’s halal industry through the offering of customised halal financing packages. These entail supportive ancillary services that complement the industry’s existing financial solutions such as business matching and advisory services. Such packages are currently made available by five Islamic banks on the Halal Development Corporation (HDC)'s Halal Integrated Platform, a one-stop online advisory portal for halal companies.

Globally, efforts towards building climate resilience have intensified, with global supply chains joining the movement. The race towards Net Zero by 2050 has also seen multi-national corporations (MNCs) restructure their supply chains to be more sustainable, putting non-compliance suppliers at risk of being sidelined. As a trading nation, Malaysia stands to lose USD65.3 billion4 worth of annual export revenue if we do not embrace the transition towards a low carbon and climate resilient economy by 2025. Trade partners have started to impose expectations on sustainability as preconditions to transact. For example, Malaysia’s major trade partners (e.g. China, EU, South Korea and Japan) commitments to Net Zero by mid-century and the recently EU’s proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism will increase the cost of business to export into these markets. It is clear that sustainability is no longer a nice to have but an imperative business consideration critical for long-term survival. It is encouraging to see that the financial sector is stepping up on this front including via the offering of sustainable finance solutions and assistance to companies in their transition journey. Islamic financial institutions have and continue to lead through Value-based intermediation (VBI) practices. VBI stems from the underpinning values of Maqasid Shariah that propagates attainment of benefits and prevention of harm that is consistent with the principles of sustainability.