SARAWAK must avoid repeating the mistake made in Sabah where a purported USD76.5bil carbon capture project was exposed and dubbed an international carbon credit debacle, bringing the country into disrepute.
See Chee How (PSB-Batu Lintang) during the debate session of the Forest (Amendment) Bill 2022 on Thursday (May 19) pointed out that various sessions and meetings of the international panels on Climate Change Conference had never authenticated or recommended the monetisation of tree planting under the scheme commonly known as carbon credits.
“The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) via the various Conference, the most recent of which was held in Glasgow in 2021.
“It has only urged governments and other agencies to undertake programmes for large-scale reforestation together with a commitment that all logging of the remaining natural forests must cease by 2030.”
He added that the carbon credit schemes were principally attempted by the business and investment communities, to monetise the ‘carbon stock’ through a precarious and largely unvalidated system.
“Whereby the emitters of carbon pay some other entity or individual to offset or ‘sequester’ this carbon by planting trees.
“This is so that these companies can claim that they now operate a business system that is carbon neutral.
“This carbon credit ‘business’ has inevitably attracted the venal attention of many ‘get-rich-quick’ operators and the so-called carbon credits have been mostly discredited by the international scientific community.”
Hence, he urged that everyone should be enlightened first on the extent or magnitude of Sarawak’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) up to 2030, including the plans and programmes to fulfil the ambition to cut down our greenhouse gas emissions.
“How are we to assist and support and thus incentivise the private sector to invest in climate-friendly solutions, to thereby making it our collective responsibility for sustainable living for ourselves, Sarawak, and the Mother Earth.”
