By Nurshuhada Zainon
COP30 has recently concluded in Belém, Brazil, and the conference has left the global community with a renewed sense of urgency. Governments were pressed to demonstrate not only ambition but credible action, and the spotlight on implementation has never been sharper. In the wake of these discussions, Malaysia’s climate direction is becoming clearer, supported by a series of policy commitments that mark meaningful progress.
The net zero by 2050 ambition is now formally enshrined in the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR), giving Malaysia a clear long-term decarbonisation target. Malaysia’s climate agenda is supported by frameworks such as the Low Carbon Cities Framework, which guides urban and infrastructure planning toward lower emissions.
Malaysia has also strengthened its climate commitments through its active role at COP30 and its position as ASEAN Chair in articulating a unified regional stance on climate action. These initiatives show an increasing alignment between national priorities and global expectations.
The latest submission of NDC 3.0 targets outline Malaysia’s intention to peak emissions between 2029 and 2034, marking an important milestone in the nation’s decarbonisation pathway. Malaysia also aims to cut between 15 and 30 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent by 2035 from that peak level. To meet these commitments, the country will need sector-specific projects that reduce emissions and strengthen resilience to climate impacts. This includes the built environment, where construction, urban planning and human settlements are now recognised as key climate-action sectors.
Globally, these sectors account for roughly one-third of total energy demand and about 34 per cent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. Climate considerations must therefore be embedded into building design, material choices, infrastructure planning and long-term land-use decisions. The foundations for progress are in place, and Malaysia’s direction is becoming more coherent as the country positions itself for a low-carbon future.
Yet the built environment sector still struggles with a fundamental question: where are we now? Nearly a decade after the Paris Agreement, we still lack a clear picture of how far we have progressed.
Despite Malaysia’s expanding climate commitments, one crucial gap remains. The country still lacks a comprehensive and systematic carbon baseline for the built environment, particularly one that captures embodied emissions from construction. What we have today is fragmented.
Malaysia’s national greenhouse gas inventory, managed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability and the Department of Environment, reports emissions at broad sectoral levels such as energy, industrial processes, land use and waste. These categories do not provide the detail needed to understand the carbon footprint of buildings and infrastructure.
There are efforts, to close this gap. The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Malaysia has introduced several initiatives, including MyCREST and the Embodied Carbon, Inventory Data, all aimed at helping the industry quantify emissions from construction activities.
However, much of the available data is not fully localised and often relies on generic or international values, which limits its accuracy as a national reference. Academics have also produced baseline studies for specific buildings or cities, yet these remain project-based and use different methodologies. They cannot be combined into a coherent national picture, and the lack of standardisation makes it difficult to compare projects or monitor progress.
A unified baseline is essential because it provides a measurable starting point for tracking emissions and assessing progress. Malaysia’s construction and built environment sectors are still operating without one, making it harder to design effective policies, set realistic reduction pathways or demonstrate genuine progress. This is especially important as rapid urbanisation continues to drive material consumption, energy demand and embodied carbon. Establishing such a baseline is not merely a technical exercise but a foundational step toward credible climate action.
In this view, digital transformation must be viewed as an essential climate tool. Technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), digital twins, IoT sensors and cloud-based analytics make it possible to monitor energy use, material choices and emissions performance in real time. These tools can provide the baselines we currently lack and enable continuous measurement across the lifecycle of a building.
In the wake of COP30, the critical question for Malaysia is whether we are equipped with the systems needed to deliver clarity and measurable outcomes. Establishing baseline data for buildings, infrastructure and construction processes must be an immediate priority. Only with a clear starting point can we chart an accountable path toward meaningful decarbonisation.
Sr Dr. Nurshuhada Zainon is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaya whose expertise focuses on digital construction for a more sustainable built environment.
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