KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 29): Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) will soon present its first transition finance framework, according to the bank’s chief sustainability officer Shahril Azuar Jimin, in order to better cater to Malaysia’s energy transition financing needs in a just and equitable manner.

During a dialogue session at the Energy Transition conference on Tuesday, Shahril said Maybank views the energy transition in a holistic manner ― a view he said the bank incorporates into its financing mechanisms.

Shahril said the bank is cognizant of the need to sort out both Malaysia and Asean’s energy mix to achieve their respective sustainability targets, while ensuring their energy security is met.

“Coal is coal, and Maybank has exposure to coal, though small ― about 0.3%, but we do recognise that there is a need to sort out the energy mix not only in Malaysia but [also] in Asean.

“But when you talk about a just transition, it’s not just about an asset or the employees of a particular power company. It’s also for the energy security of the nation," he added

Shahril said Maybank is still fine-tuning its Sustainable Product Framework (SPF) to ensure a smooth and just transition.

Maybank launched SPF back in September 2022 to support its commitment to mobilise RM50 billion in sustainable finance by 2025. In January this year, this commitment was upped to RM80 billion.

“I am happy to say that we’ve crossed the highway mark already ― we’re already at more than RM40 billion. If we did not revise the RM50 billion commitment we would have already [achieved our goal] in two in a half years,” he said.

“That shows that we are able to provide funding, it is not an issue, it depends on the availability of projects,” he added.

Institute of Energy Economics Japan (IEEJ) chief economist and senior managing director Dr Ken Koyama also warned that the global economy and employment opportunities may stagnate if investments into green energy come at the expense of investments into other sectors.

Koyama said this was the result of a study conducted by the IEEJ, where one scenario shows green energy investment brought about a net increase of total investments, while in the other, green investments resulted in a decline of investments in other sectors.

He said when green energy investments brought about a net increase, global growth of gross domestic product (GDP) and employment increased.

In the other scenario, neither global GDP nor employment grew.

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