KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is committed to achieving the commitments made in the Paris Agreement 2015 and materialising the objectives of the United Nation's (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dewan Negara president Tan Sri Dr. Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the recent shift in Malaysia's policy to allow the export of commercial renewable energy is poised to generate economic benefits.

"By reinvesting the income from this initiative into national development, it aims to counteract the impacts of climate change and enhance the quality of life for its people.

"Malaysia is entering Phase 2 of the SDG Road Map which coincides with its Twelfth Malaysia Plan 2021-2025," he said while speaking at the 27th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of The Commonwealth (CSPOC) in Kampala, Uganda on Thursday.

Wan Junaidi noted that the goals of SDGs 2015 and Paris Agreement 2015 are two separate international treaties but both treaties share a common overarching goal to promote global sustainability and address environmental challenges of complex proportions facing humanity, promoting prosperity while safeguarding the planet.

In September 2015, the UN initiated the SDGs which set of 17 global goals that were adopted by all UN member states as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a global commitment to achieving a more sustainable and equitable world by 2030

He said in localising the SDGs, several projects were carried out in 57 parliamentary constituencies from 2020 to 2022 all over the country, addressing the concerns of vulnerable groups such as Indigenous communities, farmers, small-scale fishery workers, B40 residents, single parents, and older persons.

Wan Junaidi also pointed out Sarawak's role in contributing to Malaysia's objectives through initiatives such as the Hydrogen Economy Roadmap, the Hydrogen Energy Transition Roadmap (HETR), and other initiatives to develop renewable energy.

Meanwhile, Wan Junaidi also shared about the country's commitment to the Montreal Protocol and Paris Agreement 2015 through several initiatives such as the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) and maintaining forest cover as pledged in the Earth Summit in Rio, 1992.

Besides that, he also shared Parliament's action to install photovoltaic (PV) systems to harness energy from the sun to generate power for all parliamentary buildings' use and the installation is expected to be completed and commissioned by mid-2024.

"We anticipate a total estimated energy generation of 1.9 GWh per year and will result in estimated substantial savings of electricity bill of RM693,000 annually," he added.

The CSPOC held from Jan 3 to 6, aims to strengthen diplomatic ties and international cooperation among the participating countries and highlight the importance of the Commonwealth as a platform to foster understanding and cooperation among member countries.

-- BERNAMA