WHAT IS A LOW CARBON SOCIETY?

A Low Carbon Society is a society where people live a simple but high quality lifestyle, emphasizing family and community ties, and in harmony with nature, with minimum emission of CO2. The values of a Low Carbon Society are as follows:

CARBON MINIMIZATION IN ALL SECTORS

All sectors minimize their CO2 emission, including transport, industry, residential (consumer), agriculture and so forth.

TOWARDS A SIMPLER LIFESTYLE THAT REALIZES A RICHER QUALITY OF LIFE

Society forgoes mass consumption and places more value on family, health and interaction with nature towards building a better quality of life.

COEXISTENCE WITH NATURE

Humans are a part of the global ecosystem. As such we need to maintain and restore the rich and diverse natural environment, in order to achieve a LCS by securing CO2 absorption to adapt to global warming.

BACKGROUND OF LOW CARBON SOCIETY IN ISKANDAR MALAYSIA

BACKGROUND OF LOW CARBON SOCIETY IN ISKANDAR MALAYSIA The issues of climate change and global warming is paid greater attention today than ever before, with both mandatory and voluntary efforts in reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions being observed in most countries around the world, including Malaysia. During the Conference of Parties 15 (COP 15) by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2009 at Copenhagen, Denmark, the Prime Minister of Malaysia announced Malaysia’s voluntary initiative to achieve up to 40% in emissions reduction intensity of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020 based on 2005 levels.

This target is to be achieved on the condition that technology transfers and financial support are provided by developed countries. At COP20 in Lima, Peru in 2014, Malaysia announced that it had already achieved 33% of this original target. Then last year at COP21 in Paris, France, Malaysia released its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) of achieving 45% emission intensity by GDP by year 2010 as compared to year 2005 levels, under the same condition of receiving technology transfer and financial support.

In line with the Federal Government’s voluntary GHG emissions reduction effort, Iskandar Malaysia took the initiative to address carbon emissions in its jurisdiction. Since 2011, Iskandar Regional Development Authority has been working closely with Japanese and Malaysian research institutions [namely Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Kyoto University (KU), Okayama University (OU) and the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES)] to develop the Low Carbon Society Blueprint for Iskandar Malaysia.

This blueprint is one of the main outputs of SATREPS (Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development) under the Development of Low Carbon Society Scenarios for Asian Region research project, sponsored by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). The SATREPS project formally started in June 2011 and ended in June 2016. The Research project’s formal title is “Development of Low Carbon Society Scenarios for Asian Region”, with Iskandar Malaysia as its ‘lab’. Ultimately, the outcome of the LCS in Iskandar Malaysia is expected to be the blueprint for other countries, especially in the ASEAN region.

Low Carbon Society for Iskandar Malaysia 2025 (LCSBPIM2025) was officially launched by the Prime Minister of Malaysia and was adopted by the Iskandar Regional Development Authority in 2012. LCSBPIM 2025 contains future Low Carbon Society scenarios based on major socio-economic development variables, quantitative modelling of CO2 emissions and “12 Major Actions” that come under a Triple Bottom Line pillar, namely Green Economy, Green Community and Green Environment. The 12 Actions consisting of 52 Sub-Actions, 97 Measures and 281 Programmes were formulated to transform Iskandar Malaysia into a Low Carbon Society. The LCSBPIM 2025 outlines a total of 281 implementation programmes which are projected to reduce Iskandar Malaysia’s carbon intensity by 58% in the year 2025 (compared to 2005 levels).