US summit on climate change aimed at big GHG producers - Tuan Ibrahim
Editor's Note: Bernama has amended the heading and intro of the story after the minister's clarification today.
Malaysia was not invited to the Leaders' Summit on Climate in the United States (US) on April 22 and 23 because the main objective of the conference is to encourage large economies that collectively contribute 80 percent of greenhouse gases (GHG) to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, said Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.
He said there were many countries that stood out in the climate change agenda such as Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand that were also not invited to attend the conference.
The summit, he said, is also related to climate-vulnerable countries like...
Editor's Note: Bernama has amended the heading and intro of the story after the minister's clarification today.
Malaysia was not invited to the Leaders' Summit on Climate in the United States (US) on April 22 and 23 because the main objective of the conference is to encourage large economies that collectively contribute 80 percent of greenhouse gases (GHG) to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, said Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.
He said there were many countries that stood out in the climate change agenda such as Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand that were also not invited to attend the conference.
The summit, he said, is also related to climate-vulnerable countries like Vietnam and Indonesia and that Malaysia did not come under either of the categories (GHG production, climate-vulnerable).
“The summit is a one-off event, and does not affect negotiations and resolutions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
"This needs to be seen separately from the recent issue on the importation of plastic waste into Malaysia from the US," he said in a statement today.
Prior to this, there were media reports saying that Malaysia was not on the list of 40 countries invited to the conference, following which, allegations were made that Malaysia was not invited because the country is now often seen as a dumping ground for plastic waste.
Tuan Ibrahim explained that the plastics recycling industry was at present allowed to operate in the country based on the decision of the federal government through the International Trade and Industry Ministry, which is responsible for the direction and policy of the industry.
He said the Housing and Local Government Ministry regulates the issuance of approved permits to import only clean and uniform (homogenous) plastics, while the Environment Department (DOE) acts as an enforcer to ensure compliance with the Basel Convention.
"In 2019, a total of 124 containers were sent back to the exporting countries, while 143 containers were sent back from 2020 to March 2021. Currently, there are 81 more containers being handled by the DOE to be sent back," he said.
- Bernama
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