Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Climate Change
The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) organised an Interface between Members of Parliament and Civil Society Organizations on Strengthening Climate Action in Malaysia.
Key issues on climate emergency and the environment were central in the discussions, such as the Climate Change Act, Climate Finance, UNFCCC COP, several sectoral policies, and the National Adaptation Plan, including emerging ones such as NDC Roadmap and Carbon pricing.
KAMY recommended the formation of a special select committee on Environment, or Climate Change and Energy Transition.
Why is this necessary?
We need an institutional platform at the parliamentary level to address the increasing challenges of climate action, steer Malaysia into a just (adil) and peaceful (aman) transition and bring greater electoral accountability.
The Special Select committee could platform bills and instruments central to regulating climate action in Malaysia and other environmental issues such as;
✅ Balance the power of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Environment and Water (as the focal point) in making climate decisions for Malaysia
✅ The tabling of the Climate Change Act and Disaster Act to ensure the security and resilience of not only sectors at risk but also vulnerable groups.
✅ Facilitate policy debates on National Adaptation Plan, NDC roadmap and GHG reporting, ensuring safeguards on carbon pricing, Emission Trading Scheme, peak emission, and climate finance tagging.
✅ Debate on Malaysia’s pledges and strategies at negotiation spaces such as UNFCCC COP, and Convention on Biological Diversity, to name a few.
✅ Debate the review and amendments of the National Climate Change Policy 2009, Environmental Quality Act 1974 (Phase 1 and Phase 2- pollution loading), and EIAs.
✅ Regulate Corporate governance: FI, Bursa and BNM
Read the official summary from APHR meeting below:
The climate emergency needs an institutional platform at the parliamentary level — a special select committee on climate, environment, and energy — like those formed in global north democracies such as New Zealand, Germany, UK and USA (see below for some comparison).
We are a country in the global south more vulnerable to climate impacts and squeezed in by the global north’s resistance to Common but Differentiated Responsibility (CBDR). This gives us the impetus and rationale for a parliamentary platform for long-term climate planning, with greater electoral responsibility from our MPs and greater urgency.
United States [ https://climatecrisis.house.gov/]
- The House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis is a select committee established in the 116th United States Congress in 2019.
- In June 2020, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Democrats released the majority staff report Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America. This report provides a roadmap for Congress — a Climate Crisis Action Plan — to build a prosperous, clean energy economy that values workers, advances environmental justice, and is prepared to meet the challenges of the climate crisis.
- Read the hearing reviews here: https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/overview-of-the-select-committee-on-the-climate-crisis-hearings
United Kingdom
The environment and climate change committee at the parliamentary level allow inquiries, giving MPs the mandate to consider oral and written evidence on a particular topic. They usually result in the publication of a report. Example of standing inquiries :
- Mobilising action on climate change and Environment: behaviour change.
- COP15: the international biodiversity conference.
- Delivering COP26 across the Government.
Germany
- The Committee on Climate Action and Energy’s area of responsibility is identical with part of the remit of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. With 34 members, the Committee is responsible for all aspects of the transformation of our energy system, the associated issues raised by climate protection and the topic of energy conservation. The focal points of its deliberations on energy policy include revising the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), grid expansion and energy efficiency.
- The committee on Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection is concerned with matters that involve the preservation of our natural resources. Key issues under this committee: What instruments can we use to combat climate change? What answers do we have to increasingly frequent extreme weather events such as floods, storms and droughts? How can we preserve biodiversity and nature? How can we use resources more efficiently? What can be done with nuclear waste? However, the remit of the Committee’s 38 members also extends to consumer protection matters, such as passenger rights, banking practices, or security issues when entering into contracts online.
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