Ladies and gentlemen, The second challenge is in forging strong collaboration and cooperation among key stakeholders and overcoming the collective action problem. When it comes to costly and difficult action, we always prefer others to do it. Ministries, government agencies, policymakers and regulators must therefore set aside their differences and work for the greater good, consolidate their strength based on their shared values and work collaboratively to develop and bring creative ideas for sustainable development into fruition. Initiatives need to be driven beyond personal motivation and belief. Strategies need clear milestones with clear accountability by stakeholders. Sector-specific approaches need to converge to limit risks of a disorderly transition. The journey of sustainability is therefore one that is best navigated collectively. We have to come together to support joint and coordinated responses to mitigate unsustainable practices. For the Malaysian financial sector, the formation of the Joint Committee on Climate Change was an important milestone in pursuing collaborative actions for building climate resilience. A key mandate of the Joint Committee is to facilitate collaboration between key stakeholders in advancing coordinated solutions to address arising challenges and issues. This is in addition to building industry capacity, and identifying issues, challenges and priorities facing the financial sector in managing the transition towards a low carbon economy. The third challenge that we face as a developing nation is in balancing sustainability and competing socio-economic priorities, given our limited resources for transition to low-carbon economy.

Since 2016, several new legislations, policies and action plans were introduced, while existing financing mechanisms were strengthened to support the uptake of green initiatives. As 2020 approaches, Malaysia is committed to continue implementing its strategic long-term plans and green friendly policies. Budget 2020 is reflective of this commitment, with the allocation of a matching fund of RM10 million towards a joint United Nations SDG-government fund to co-finance SDG initiatives 2/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  in Malaysia. While government funding is important to realise the SDGs, most of the investments would need to be sourced from the private sector. An annual target of RM350 billion from private investments by 2020 was identified in the national roadmap for the SDGs, in line with achieving the targets of the 11th Malaysia Plan. Thus, financial institutions are expected to embark on new financing and investment opportunities towards sustainable projects and practices. There is a large financing gap needed to be filled to realise the SDGs in developing countries, which is estimated to be between USD 2.5 – 3 trillion annually. One major sector to drive a green economy is renewable energy. Projections provided by the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) estimates that RM 33.5 billion is needed by private sector financing to achieve the national target of 20% installed capacity of renewable energy by 2025 in Malaysia. Beyond that, financing is needed for other important sectors such as education, healthcare, social entrepreneurship and food production to galvanize sustainable development.