ISKANDAR MALAYSIA NAMED CLIMATE ACTION LEADER ON THE CDP A LIST FOR THE FOURTH YEAR IN 2023

Iskandar Malaysia was also on the CDP A List in 2019, 2020 and 2022.

Iskandar Malaysia has been recognised?by CDP?as?one?of 119?cities across the globe that is taking bold leadership on environmental action and transparency, despite?the pressures of a challenging global economic situation.

Designed to encourage and support cities to ramp up their climate action and ambition, CDP’s Cities A List is based on environmental data disclosed by cities to CDP-ICLEI Track.?A clear momentum in city climate disclosure and action is building – over 900 cities (939 in total) received a rating for their climate action from CDP in 2023. In 2023, just over one in ten cities scored by CDP (13% of such cities) received an A.

“Being recognised as a climate action leader at a global level speaks volumes of the substantial efforts that have been made in Iskandar Malaysia, together with its government, private and community partners, in creating and driving a low carbon society in the region. We are proud of this achievement and have already taken one step further to become a climate resilience and carbon-neutral region?as embedded in our latest Comprehensive Development Plan (CDPiii) Iskandar Malaysia 2022-2030,” said Yang Berhormat Dato’ Dr Badrul Hisham bin Kassim, Chief Executive, Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA).

To score an A, among other actions, a city must disclose publicly through CDP-ICLEI Track, have a city-wide emissions inventory, and have published a climate action plan. It must also?complete a climate risk and vulnerability assessment and?have a climate adaptation goal to demonstrate how it will tackle climate hazards.

Iskandar Malaysia and some of its low carbon programmes were recently featured at Asia Pacific Climate Week (APCW) 2023 in Johor Bahru, Johor, to share its regionwide initiatives on the environment that led to receiving the CDP A List recognition and recorded a 19.7% reduction in carbon intensity emission based on its Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHG) 2019 compared to the 2010 base year.

Dato’ Dr Badrul Hisham added that Iskandar Malaysia has developed its Low Carbon Society Blueprint Iskandar Malaysia (LCSBPIM) 2030, both at the regional and local authority level, to assist and guide the 5 local authorities and mayors within its area.

The region has also completed the low carbon development journey, from science to policy to action and finally to the monitoring stage where its GHG performance has been tracked since 2015 based on the international standard Global Protocol for Community-scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory (GPC).

Iskandar Malaysia and the other 118 cities on this year’s A List are also celebrated for showing that urgent and impactful climate action - from ambitious emissions reduction targets to building resilience against climate change - is achievable at a global level and in cities with different climate realities and priorities.

Dato’ Dr Badrul Hisham stressed that all stakeholders in Iskandar Malaysia be it those from the government or private sectors plus the community were involved in the region’s green efforts and helped the region to attain its place in the CDP A List.

For the community, programmes like the Iskandar Malaysia Ecolife Challenge (IMELC), which involved more than 100,000 primary school students from around Johor, and the Green Community Carbon Reduction Programme (GCCR), encourage the community to carry out environmentally related activities such as water and electric savings plus waste recycling. For the private sector, the Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE) certification programme and the Iskandar Malaysia Green Accord Initiative Award (GAIA) encourage businesses to adopt green components and actions in their buildings and operations and then be recognised for these efforts.

CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions. Founded in 2000 and working with more than 740 financial institutions with over $136 trillion in assets, CDP pioneered using capital markets and corporate procurement to motivate companies to disclose their environmental impacts, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests.????

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