Tengku Zafrul said the framework aimed to encourage the manufacturing sector to embrace ESG practices by providing clear guidelines and enablers for companies, including small and medium enterprises.
PETALING JAYA: The national industry environmental, social and governance framework or i-ESG for the manufacturing sector, to be launched by September 2023, could tap into the growing green businesses in South-East Asia estimated at US$200bil (RM933.2bil) by 2030.
Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the framework comprised four key components – standards, financial support and incentives, capacity building and market mechanisms.
“What we are looking to do is also to promote and nurture green manufacturing.
“Note that green businesses in South-East Asia present up to an estimated US$200bil (RM933.2bil) opportunity by 2030,” he said in his keynote address at the Second Malaysian Banking Conference yesterday, as reported by Bernama.
The two-day conference is organised by the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers and Association of Banks in Malaysia.
He said the framework aimed to encourage the manufacturing sector to embrace ESG practices by providing clear guidelines and enablers for companies, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Tengku Zafrul welcomed financial institutions to consider allocating resources to industries, manufacturers and exporters in areas such as sectoral decarbonisation, electric mobility, hydrogen energy, large-scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage, as well as technologies on circular economy and green infrastructure.
He said it is only when there is a concerted public-private push that a nation can mobilise serious financing or capital to move the needle towards effectively decarbonising the economy and achieving the ESG agenda, while nurturing broad-based growth.
“We can and must try to change potentially catastrophic climate-change effects on Malaysia.
“But the window for us to do so is getting smaller by the month.
“To that end, I sincerely hope that Malaysia’s financial industry will work closely with the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry to ramp up our collaborative efforts by being bolder and more aggressive on ESG financing and investments, especially for SMEs in our manufacturing, investments and trade value chains.”
The minister further said Malaysia is staunchly committed to its target to be net-zero by 2050, and many other policies are aligned with the national targets related to the Sustainable Development Goals and ESG.
For instance, the government has introduced a tax incentive for the manufacturers of electric vehicle charging equipment.
