Malaysia Needs Unified Government Action To Cut Fossil Fuel Dependency

KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 (Bernama) -- Malaysia needs a clean energy blueprint with coordinated intervention across all ministries to reduce its dependency on fossil fuels, amid the ongoing energy supply crisis that stemmed from the geopolitical conflict in West Asia.

IDEAS Research Manager, Nur Afiqah M. Zulkifli said a coordination across all ministries is needed because not only is renewable energy a climate issue, it is also one that involves security and industrial policy.  

“All ministries need to play their own roles,” she said, during a guest appearance on Bernama TV’s Bernama World programme on Global Energy Crisis: Rethinking the World’s Energy Future on Tuesday. 

According to Nur Afiqah, state owned enterprise such as Petronas should be reformed and position themselves as a clean energy leader to move away from fossil fuel investment.

Meanwhile, Citizens International Executive Director, Imran Rasid, said that with or without the war in West Asia, the energy supply crisis is already unfolding with climate change, and most countries are already managing it.

He said the war in West Asia is a wake-up call that shows fossil fuels dependency is a precarious system susceptible to disruption to its supply chain, and focuses on the geographical point. 

“At the same time, the speculators play the role of making the system an unstable industry. If the war ended tomorrow, restructuring will still take time as the oil refineries and are being attacked,” he added. 

According to Imran, Malaysia can take a leaf out of Pakistan's book, where solar panels are widely used, and India, which is also moving towards a large-scale adoption of solar panels. 

-- BERNAMA