KUCHING, Nov 29 — The Sarawak government has given approval in principle a licence for state-owned oil company Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) to use 1.318 million hectares of Miri-Bintulu waters for carbon storage, Datuk Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said today.
The deputy premier said the issuance of the licence is to facilitate the carbon trading activities to be more systematic and orderly.
“It is also to support Malaysia's commitment to reduce greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050 and the Environment (Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Emission) Bill 2023 that was passed by the House last week,” he said in his winding-up speech in the State Legislative Assembly.
He said the state government has also conducted a climate change policy study as well as one on low carbon blueprints for Kuching, Miri, Sibu and Bintulu to find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Awang Tengah, who is also second state minister of natural resources and urban development, said the amendments to the Forests Ordinance, 2015, and the Forests (Forest Carbon Activity) Rules, 2022, passed in the State Assembly in May 2022 can now be implemented.
He said carbon trading activity is a new potential to generate income from the forest resources in Sarawak.
He said so far only one carbon study permit has been issued to a local company to study and assess the actual potential of an area to carry out carbon activities.
He said three more carbon study permits are in the final process, including one which involves a blue carbon study in mangrove forest areas.
He added that the blue carbon refers to the carbon stored in the marine ecosystem mainly by mangrove forests and seagrass.
“These ecosystems play an important role in the absorption and storage of large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
“Therefore, activities involving conservation in relation to blue carbon are very important to balance the absorption of carbon consistently in the future,” he said.
