“The Time is Now: Race to Zero” webinar by the British High Commission Kuala Lumpur and the BMCC was successfully delivered on 25 March 2021. The webinar is the third instalment of the BMCC-British High Commission webinar series under the Great for a Sustainable Future campaign in the run-up to the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).
H.E. Charles Hay MVO, British High Commissioner to Malaysia graced the event and delivered the special address, in which he said that COP26, which the UK will be hosting this November in partnership with Italy, “needs to be the moment where the world unites behind a fairer, greener recovery from the effects of COVID-19”. He shared that as a developed country and industrialised nation, the UK has committed to deliver £11.6 billion (approximately RM66 billion) of international climate finance over the next five years, and Malaysia will be one of the recipient countries. His Excellency also said governments have a key role in legislating net zero targets and setting the framework, and within that the private sector needs to act. He urged all participants of the event to join the “Race to Zero” campaign and commit their businesses to reaching net zero by 2050 the latest.
In delivering the keynote address, Faroze Nadar, Executive Director, UN Global Compact Network Malaysia & Brunei said that as global economies such as the EU and China commit to achieving a net zero future, trade will start to pivot towards looking at trading partners who take into consideration ESG factors, and climate is going to be the core. It is now a business opportunity for Malaysia to position itself as a sustainable trading hub, and when the Malaysian private sector collectively pushes this, it will make Malaysia a very attractive player in global supply chains. He also said that the UN has demarcated this decade as the “decade of action”, meaning now is the time to take action and achieve this race to zero together.
The webinar also featured a panel of progressive thought and business leaders discussing the transition to a zero-carbon future. They included Andreas Pistauer of Siemens Energy Malaysia; Andrew Sill MBE of HSBC Malaysia; Angelia Chin-Sharpe of BNP Paribas Asset Management; Dzafri Sham Ahmad of PETRONAS; Jason Snape of AstraZeneca; Dato’ Mohammad Faiz Azmi of PwC Malaysia; Mohamad Irwan Aman of Sarawak Energy Berhad; and Professor Woo Wing Thye of Sunway Group. Jennifer Lopez, Chief Executive Officer of the BMCC, was the host and emcee for the event.
Watch the webinar replay here:
