Because the Malaysia’s Ministry of Economic system races to desk a brand new carbon seize, utilisation and storage (CCUS) invoice by year-end, the nation’s surroundings minister has acknowledged criticism of the expertise as a dangerous local weather mitigation instrument.
“I perceive and share that there are actual issues concerning the dangers and challenges of CCUS,” Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Minister of Pure Sources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) advised Eco-Enterprise in an unique interview. “However when you learn [the work of] consultants who’re concerned in local weather change, loads of them say that you just can’t rule out CCUS as one of many levers for decarbonisation.”
CCUS, which is the method of capturing and storing carbon dioxide that will in any other case be launched into the environment, is being touted by the federal government as a approach for Malaysia to indicate regional management in decarbonisation.
Nonetheless, the expertise has drawn vital flak from environmental advocates in Malaysia and overseas. In August, environmental non-profit Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) stated that CCUS tasks have traditionally overpromised and under-delivered on pledged decarbonisation, and have as an alternative extended using fossil fuels.
Together with different civil society teams corresponding to Greenpeace Malaysia, RimbaWatch and Klima Motion Malaysia, SAM has known as on the Malaysian authorities to cease approving CCUS tasks. An announcement from the teams cited United Nations secretary common Antonio Guterres, who has described using carbon seize as greenwashing by the fossil gasoline trade.
Nonetheless, given the pressing want to deal with local weather change and Malaysia’s dedication to web zero emissions by 2050, each potential decarbonisation answer must be thought of, stated Nik Nazmi. “If you happen to can press all of the buttons and say, 4 out of six work, then possibly we stand an opportunity [to reach net zero by 2050],” he stated.
Nonetheless, the Malaysian authorities, companies and civil society have to be absolutely conscious of the dangers of CCUS, together with the potential for leaks and corrosion through the means of capturing and storing carbon dioxide. “We’ve to go in [on CCUS] with our eyes vast open. We can’t settle for it level clean,” he stated.
The CCUS invoice is spearheaded by the Ministry of Economic system, helmed by Rafizi Ramli however the Division of Setting, which studies to NRES, has been consulted on environmental and climate-related elements, stated Nik Nazmi.
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We’ve to be very cautious. [Carbon capture and storage] must be about decreasing the danger of local weather change, not making it worse.
Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, Minister of Pure Sources and Environmental Sustinability, Malaysia
‘Significant public session’ wanted
In a speech on Thursday, Rafizi stated that he’s hoping to get Malaysia’s CCUS invoice handed at a “file pace of six months” – forward even of the nationwide local weather change invoice that NRES plans to desk in early 2025 and which has taken over two years to develop.
“With out CCUS, energy crops and metal industries will simply not meet their [emissions] targets – it’s a actuality that we’ve got to simply accept,” stated Rafizi on the Worldwide Greentech Exhibition Malaysia (iGEM) 2024. The invoice, he added, has been benchmarked in opposition to greatest practices from Europe and has integrated internationally recognised requirements.
“We’re going to go it subsequent month, insya Allah (God keen),” stated Rafizi.
However the pace at which the CCUS invoice is being pushed by has fearful civil society in Malaysia. The Middle to Fight Corruption and Cronyism (C4), an impartial coverage advocacy group, stated it was “extraordinarily involved” by the federal government’s speedy acceptance of CCUS expertise in gentle of the excessive social, environmental and monetary dangers of failure. C4 has demanded “significant public session with academia and civil society” within the authorities’s growth of the CCUS invoice.
Channel checks by Eco-Enterprise discovered that the Ministry of Economic system has held consultations with trade and civil society teams, however the particulars of the invoice haven’t been shared but. In contrast, a draft of the nationwide local weather change invoice was just lately made public for suggestions.
Nonetheless, the Ministry of Economic system on Friday launched a public survey to gauge the understanding and notion of Malaysians in the direction of CCUS. The survey contains questions on particular person consciousness of local weather change and CCUS, as effectively a web page explaining how CCUS works as a decarbonisation methodology. [see box]
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Can Malaysia profit from CCUS?
The Ministry of Economic system’s survey on the Malaysian public’s notion of carbon seize, utilisation and storage (CCUS) has over 25 questions. A key web page introduces CCUS, after which asks whether or not the respondent agrees or disagrees that CCUS must be deployed in Malaysia, and why. The textual content of this web page is under:CO2 emissions, which contribute considerably to local weather change must be mitigated. CCUS is likely one of the decarbonisation strategies that will be capable to bodily cut back massive quantity of CO2 emissions. The method entails three foremost steps:
1. Seize: CO2 is captured from sources like energy crops and industrial services earlier than it may be launched into the environment.
2. Utilisation: The captured CO2 could be repurposed for numerous industrial purposes, corresponding to within the manufacturing of chemical compounds, constructing supplies, and enhanced oil restoration.
3. Storage: CO2 is saved securely in geological formations, corresponding to depleted oil and gasoline fields or deep saline aquifers, to stop its launch into the environment.Why is CCUS necessary for Malaysia?
• Environmental influence: By decreasing CO2 emissions, CCUS helps mitigate the consequences of local weather change and improves air high quality.
• Financial advantages: CCUS can create new job alternatives, stimulate financial development, and entice investments in new applied sciences.
• Vitality safety: It helps Malaysia’s transition to a low-carbon financial system whereas nonetheless utilising its current industrial infrastructure.The Malaysian authorities is exploring CCUS as a part of its broader technique and to meet worldwide local weather commitments. Public consciousness and acceptance of CCUS are essential for its profitable implementation and for Malaysia to completely profit from this expertise.
When requested if the outcomes of the survey would have any influence on the CCUS invoice, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Economic system advised Eco-Enterprise that the outcomes would assist the federal government perceive the attention stage of all stakeholders.
“[The findings] could also be used to create simpler engagement plans to lift consciousness [about CCUS],” the spokesperson stated.
Business motivations
Varied CCUS websites have already been recognized in Malaysian waters, largely in oil and gasoline reservoirs which can be both depleted or at present being mined. Malaysia’s nationwide oil firm Petronas is main nearly all of these developments, together with the flagship Kasawari carbon seize and storage (CCS) challenge, off the coast of Sarawak. Slated for completion by end-2025, the Kasawari challenge is at present the biggest of its variety in Southeast Asia and can be capable to retailer 3.8 million tonnes of CO2 yearly.
Malaysia’s relative geological stability and abundance of oil and gasoline reserves has made it a gorgeous vacation spot for potential CCUS websites. In contrast to neighbouring Indonesia, it’s situated exterior the Ring of Fireplace, a area of energetic volcanoes and frequent earthquakes.
Regardless of this, Nik Nazmi identified that Indonesia has been sooner to develop a authorized framework permitting for CCUS growth, having handed a presidential decree in March that may act as an umbrella regulation for CCUS tasks within the nation.
“I feel if Malaysia doesn’t discover [CCUS] for ourselves, then I feel we’re losing a chance,” Nik Nazmi advised Eco-Enterprise. International locations together with Japan, South Korea and Singapore have expressed vital curiosity in creating CCUS websites in Malaysia, with Japanese entities having already signed agreements with Petronas to check a cross-border carbon seize and storage worth chain.
Malaysia’s Minister for Pure Sources and Envrionmental Sustainability, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (proper) spoke to Eco-Enterprise regional correspondent Samantha Ho about his ministry’s involvement within the carbon seize, utilisation and storage invoice. Picture: Jason Tan/ Eco-Enterprise
Going ahead, additional memoranda of understanding will probably be signed with a few of these nations to facilitate transboundary CCUS actions, stated Rafizi. “That is crucial step that may enable us to construct a worldwide provide chain which helps local weather and web zero commitments and [allows the] delivery and transportation of liquified CO2 throughout boundaries,” he stated.
In truth, nations like Japan want to Malaysia to “take the lead” on decarbonisation, stated Rafizi, citing his engagements with different financial and vitality ministers in Asia by way of the Japan-led Zero Emissions Group (AZEC) initiative. The initiative has been criticised in Indonesia and by worldwide organisations for prolonging fossil gasoline use.
Nik Nazmi advised Eco-Enterprise that laws surrounding CCUS must be “very strict” to make sure that Malaysia shouldn’t be rising the danger of greenhouse gasoline emissions and local weather change.
“We’ve to be very cautious. It must be about decreasing the danger of local weather change, not making it worse,” he stated.
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