BANGI (April 11): The government will release an environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework by year end to help local companies transition into renewable energy (RE), said International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.
According to Tengku Zafrul, the ESG framework will focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to help them in terms of funding and capacity building to export their products.
"SMEs need not only financial support, but also capacity building, and this ESG framework will help them understand the transition into RE.
"This is very important, because we have set a goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
“In addition, a lot of our export markets are asking exporters to be ESG-compliant, so we need to prepare our companies, especially our SMEs, to transition to be more ESG-compliant," he told the media on Tuesday (April 11), after the launch of the country’s first locally battery energy storage system at Genetec Technology Bhd's EPIC Plant here.
Citaglobal Genetec BESS Sdn Bhd, a 50:50 joint venture between Citaglobal Bhd and Genetec, unveiled the country’s first locally developed and produced battery energy storage system through its fully operational 1MW BESS prototype (MYBESS).
“While localisation of international products is one way to put Malaysia on the map, developing our own intellectual property and exporting it to the world will solidify the nation’s position as a true high-tech, high-value hub to serve the future RE-powered economy,” Tengku Zafrul said.
Although the total investment in the battery energy storage system was not disclosed, the minister said: “I hope this kind of investment in RE technology will accelerate."