KUALA LUMPUR: Close coordination between the federal government and Sarawak is needed to prevent overlapping regulations and potential economic losses in developing Malaysia’s carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) industry, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said coordination was particularly important as Sarawak had its own legal framework governing carbon-related activities, while federal CCUS legislation applied to Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan.
“We need to establish discussions and the best possible arrangements to avoid any overlap or losses at the national level,” he said in reply to a question from Datuk Dr Richard Rapu (GPS-Betong).
Akmal said the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage Act 2025 applied to Peninsular Malaysia and said discussions were necessary to ensure consistency between the different regulatory frameworks.
He said developing a viable CCUS industry required sufficient volumes of carbon dioxide to justify investment in capture, transportation and storage infrastructure.
This would require cooperation with other countries to establish an ecosystem capable of collecting and transporting carbon dioxide for storage.
“An important element in making the country’s CCUS agenda successful is ensuring sufficient volume to justify investment,” he said.
He said cross-border carbon dioxide imports fell within the national administrative framework, while Sarawak also had potential geological storage sites that could support the industry’s development.
He said both considerations had to be carefully coordinated when establishing international partnerships.
This was particularly relevant to potential cooperation with countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, which could form part of Malaysia’s cross-border carbon dioxide management ecosystem.
Akmal said the interests of both the federal government and Sarawak had to be taken into account to prevent regulatory duplication.