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Bursa Carbon Exchange (“BCX”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bursa Malaysia Berhad (“Bursa Malaysia”), will be hosting the highly anticipated auction of its first Malaysian carbon credits on 25 July 2024. The auction of carbon credits from the Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project (‘Kuamut Project’) marks a significant milestone for BCX on several fronts – the offering of its first Malaysia Nature-based Carbon Credits Plus (MNC+) generated via a domestic forestry project; and the expansion of BCX’s product offering to include local carbon credits in addition to global carbon credits.
Located in the Tongod and Kinabatangan districts in Sabah, Malaysia, the Kuamut Project protects and restores 83,381 hectares of tropical forest. The project is a public-private partnership between Sabah Forestry Department, Rakyat Berjaya Sdn Bhd, Yayasan Sabah and Permian Malaysia, who is the project proponent. The project also receives operational support from PACOS Trust and the Southeast Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP). At the end of March 2024, the project saw its maiden issuance of Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), resulting in an estimated annual emission reduction of 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). The project also simultaneously delivers tangible climate, community and biodiversity co-benefits, earning itself a Gold Level for Climate status under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Standards.
According to Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia, “This is a historic moment as we welcome the first Malaysian nature-based carbon project onto BCX. Given the importance of the voluntary carbon market (VCM) in the nation’s climate agenda, the offering of the Kuamut Project carbon credits is a significant milestone, indicating the country’s environmental leadership. It signals to the world that Malaysia is serious about climate action and its climate ambition. We are committed to advance the transition towards a lower carbon economy by developing a supportive VCM ecosystem through BCX.”
Elaborating on the significance of the auction, he said, “It is hoped that this auction will generate greater interest among domestic and international business communities to invest in more carbon projects in Malaysia, given the rich potential for both nature and technology-based carbon project development in this country.”
Stephen Rumsey, founder and Chairman of Permian Global, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Bursa Malaysia for their vision and leadership in developing the Carbon Exchange and especially for their support of the Kuamut Project.”
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“Climate action requires system-wide transformation. This means the rapid development of high-integrity, high-impact actions on the ground, like the Kuamut Project, but it also means building the financial infrastructure that drives investment in these vital activities. BCX is an enormously important piece in the climate puzzle.”
The Kuamut Project currently contributes towards 12 of the 17 goals and targets under the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework in addition to verifiable emissions reduction.