Green is the new black

IN a week during which the stock market, particularly banking shares, were hit in response to certain comments from the government, a silver lining also appeared.

This was in the form of Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin estimating that there would be RM1bil worth of job opportunities for the private sector under the Net Energy Metering (NEM) programme.

In addition to that, there are RM2.2bil worth of renewable energy projects to be tendered out this year, of which RM2bil are large-scale solar (LSS) and two tenders amounting to RM200mil for the energy efficiency (EE) retrofitting of 50 government buildings.

Malaysia’s “going green” plane is pretty impressive.

Going by the minister’s recent press release, expect things like peer-to-peer energy trading, purchasing option for 100% renewable energy (RE) electricity, as well as the potential establishment of a mandatory renewable energy certificate (REC) market, come 2035.

In an intensely modernising civilisation, going green is the only way ahead.

It preserves the planet’s longevity, reduces waste, improves both air and water quality, and in the longer run, is more cost-effective.

The ministry’s focus on strategic allocation of funding for research and development (R&D) in industrial research is also spot on, as there is a disconnect between what the economy needs and what researchers are working on.

However, start-up costs remain a challenge.

Hence, Yeo has proposed that the government pump some level of funds by increasing the R&D funding allocation of the industrial research portion from the current 8.9% to more than 50%.

Execution will be key to the success of this initiative.

Projects should be awarded purely on merit and not to select parties -- something that the country was embroiled in, in the past.

This occurrence was also present in R&D grants.

Another good news is the plan to bring in private funding.

The Securities Commission (SC) has been entrusted to form a green financing task force to evaluate and recommend action plans on financing for RE and EE initiatives.

The findings and recommendations of this task force will be included in the tabling of the next budget.