Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin today confirmed there are no plans to introduce a "carbon tax" in the upcoming Budget 2019.

"No, no. Not in the pipeline from my ministry," she said during a press conference after attending a ministry energy efficiency townhall session in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

Yeo said this when asked for comments on suggestions to introduce a "carbon tax" in Budget 2019, following Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's reported statement that the government is looking at introducing new taxes as a source of additional income.

In his speech to announce the mid-term review of the 11th Malaysia Plan (RMK11), Mahathir also indicated that the government was looking at the implementation of a "carbon tax" as part of its efforts to mitigate climate change.

Responding to Mahathir's initial remarks during a one-day conference organised by the Finance Ministry earlier this month, stakeholders across various industries who attended the function also reportedly weighed in on the suggestion.

The Star quoted Asian Deve­lop­ment Bank principal economist Bernard Ng who proposed the idea of a "carbon tax" in Malaysia - a tax on fossil fuels, especially on major polluters, and intended to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide.

Aside from strengthening the national revenue, Ng reportedly said that such a tax would benefit the environment and facilitate the country to achieve its aim of cutting carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030.

Commenting further, Yeo said there are other measures that could be implemented in order to achieve the ultimate goal of tackling climate change.

"By changing the electricity generation to renewable energy by 2030, we will have a carbon emission reduction of 49 percent," she said.

"So in terms of meeting our Paris Agreement, there are many other ways to do it," she added.

The Paris Agreement is an accord within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change dealing with greenhouse gas emission mitigation, adaptation and finance.

Malaysia under the previous BN government had ratified the Paris Agreement in November 2016 and committed to pledged to cut 32 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2020, as well as a 45 percent reduction in its greenhouse emissions by 2030.