The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (“NRES”) is conducting a public consultation on the Rang Undang-Undang Perubahan Iklim Negara (“RUUPIN”), i.e. the National Climate Change Bill. This is done through NRES' Consultation Paper issued on 4th October 2024 ("Consultation Paper"). (You can download this from NRES here.)
The Consultation Paper sets out the framework of the RUUPIN and an outline of the salient provisions and invites the public to provide their feedback on its contents. The dateline to do so is 18th November 2024.
Presently, Malaysia does not have any climate change legislation. The RUUPIN is therefore a major missing piece in Malaysia's climate governance.
Climate governance = The system of rules, institutions and processes that guide and regulate efforts to address climate change at sub-national, national and international levels. It includes laws, policies and collaborative frameworks to promote efforts to combat climate change.
In Malaysia’s National Climate Change Policy 2.0, the RUUPIN is intended to be the “catalytic initiative” identified in Strategic Thrust 1, with clearly articulated strategies. At the heart of our Climate Change Policy 2.0, Key Action ST1S1KA1 is to “develop a regulatory framework on climate change to regulate and coordinate climate action across all sectors and level to fulfil climate obligations and commitments.”
However, we find serious gaps in the Consultation Paper that render this public consultation highly inadequate. Among them, the section in the Consultation Paper that says “Guiding Principles” has failed to explicitly set out the actual guiding principles that guide the development of the RUUPIN. Secondly, the actual RUUPIN is not included with the Consultation Paper (instead, we get a description of the outline of the “salient provisions”).
Public participation at this stage of the RUUPIN is crucial. It is commendable that NRES is conducting this public consultation before the RUUPIN is tabled in Parliament. Nevertheless, it is important that public consultation is effective and meaningful, in that stakeholders are enabled to engage and provide relevant feedback. Here, being transparent about the drafting principles, core rationale and strategies, and the full text of the RUUPIN is necessary before stakeholders across the country can provide relevant and constructive feedback.
Our firm has set out our inputs on each aspect of the Consultation Paper as well as comment on these shortcomings in our Kiu & Co. Discussion Paper dated 16th November 2024 (“Discussion Paper”).
We have submitted this Discussion Paper to NRES as part of the firm’s civic duty as a member of society. We have also decided to share this paper with the public to contribute to the public discourse on Malaysia’s climate governance. You can download our Discussion Paper in the button below.
As climate action is a whole-of-nation affair (this phrase is really getting old!), it is plain that ALL of us need to get better and better at thinking about climate action and climate governance - not just lawyers and policymakers. Hence, we whole-heartedly encourage you to use the contents of our Discussion Paper in your own discussions and analysis of the RUUPIN. (See rights and permissions of use below.)
Even though the present public consultation exercise under the Consultation Paper will come to an end after 18th November 2024, we expect the government will be having more public consultations in the near future on the RUUPIN as the Bill is developed further. All of us, everywhere, need to take climate leadership by forming our own thoughts and articulating our own reactions to the RUUPIN, because we are stewards of the issues in our own spheres of influence. We also need to get used to discussing our interests and concerns externally and develop the ability to consider other perspectives.
Rights and permissions:
The Discussion Paper on the RUUPIN Consultation Paper © 2024 by Kiu & Co. is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
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IMPORTANT:
The comments and information contained in the Discussion Paper do not, and are not intended to, constitute legal advice or any representation or opinion by our firm. We do not offer nor accept any liability in respect of the comments or information contained in the Discussion Paper. Should you wish to act or refrain from acting in reliance on any of the comments or information contained in the Discussion Paper, kindly contact us beforehand and/or contact your lawyer with respect to any particular legal matter.
Unless we specifically state otherwise, we assume no obligation to update the Discussion Paper for any information that come to our attention subsequent to the date of the Discussion Paper.
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