Malaysia unveiled a detailed national energy transition roadmap (NETR) on Aug. 29, which sets out initiatives the government will undertake to achieve 2050 net zero target.
The government launched the first phase of NETR in July, which comprises renewable energy, hydrogen, bioenergy, green mobility, energy efficiency, and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS).
The latest version of the roadmap indicates that the government will also launch a national energy transition facility (NETF), with 2 billion ringgit allocated as the initial seed fund.
Projects under the NETR are expected to attract investments of more than 25 billion ringgit and reduce emissions by more than 10 million t/yr of CO2 equivalent (CO2e). The NETR also aims to set up a national committee to strengthen cross-sector collaboration in policy planning.
Malaysia’s National Energy Transition Roadmap to propel green economy
The NETR sees Malaysia achieving 70% installed renewable energy capacity by 2050, mainly made up of solar PV capacity. The share of coal-fired power generation is targeted to fall to zero in 2050 from around 26% currently.
Transportation is the main greenhouse gas emitter, with the land transport sector accounting for 55 million t/yr of CO2e. The government hence intends to adopt more green mobility practices and technologies across various transport sectors such as light and heavy land vehicles, aviation and marine transport.
It aims for electric vehicles (EV) to achieve 80% of the market share by 2040, and targets local EV manufacturing capabilities to make up 90% of local EV manufacturing. It also intends to introduce a blending mandate of up to 47% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by 2050.
The government aims to enhance energy efficiency to lower energy intensity and reduce emissions, to improve "all dimensions of the energy trilemma by reducing demand to improve energy security, lowering costs for users to enhance energy equity and minimizing emissions from energy production to elevate environment sustainability."
Malaysia is also considering the potential of green hydrogen. The NETR aims to establish one low-carbon hydrogen hub by 2030, and an additional two hubs by 2050. It also plans to produce up to 2.5 million t/yr of green hydrogen by 2050 from renewable energy.
The country is additionally targeting the development of three CCUS hubs by 2030, with two in peninsular Malaysia and one in Sarawak, with a total storage capacity of up to 15 million t/yr. It also aims to add a further three carbon capture hubs by 2050, with a total storage capacity between 40-80 million t/yr.
NETR estimates that Malaysia will require an investment of 1.2-1.3 trillion ringgit by 2050 to achieve its energy transition objectives.
