Collaboration from all stakeholders needed to make affordable and green houses accessible

• Gladys Chua, head of sustainability services at RAM Sustainability Sdn Bhd, said green home supply is still at the infancy stage in Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 21): Collaboration from all stakeholders within the chain is required to make affordable green houses accessible for more people, said RAM Holdings Bhd's sustainability services unit.

Gladys Chua, head of sustainability services at RAM Sustainability Sdn Bhd, said green home supply is still at the infancy stage in Malaysia.

In terms of pricing, there is a challenge in making green houses affordable and putting in the green features, she said during a panel discussion at the Developing and Financing Green Housing in Asia conference on Wednesday (Sept 21).

“We have seen some green premium for some of the green bonds. The bulk of these are for energy systems and building. [Hence] there is potential for the local market to get a cheap source of funding and lower climate risk for the market,” Chua said.

“[Nonetheless] it may take time for the market to develop all these. Sustainability is about collaboration between issuer, bank, customers, technology provider and us. Everyone has to work together to get that pricing benefits,” she said.

Bank Negara Malaysia deputy governor Jessica Chew told the conference that the goal for institutions was to develop green housing solutions that would not substantially worsen existing conditions, and help steer the market towards a just and orderly transition.

“Rising to this challenge will require creativity and collaboration between public and private institutions. I am encouraged to see the broad range of participants assembled at this event, including social housing enterprises, government bodies, and non-profit organisations which along with the private sector, have the wherewithal to open up opportunities for the development of new business and funding models for green housing,” she said in her opening remarks at the conference.

The central bank is working together with the Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3) — which is co-chaired by BNM and  Securities Commission Malaysia — to drive and coordinate the financial sector’s response to climate change.

“As part of efforts to scale up transition finance, JC3 is actively exploring pilot programmes to test new green solutions and instruments. In identifying suitable pilot projects, priority will be given to climate-friendly projects that can help develop the broader ecosystem for green finance, such as carbon accounting and measurement frameworks, climate data aggregators, or green credentialing standards,” Chew said.

"Another key deliverable of JC3 this year is the upcoming publication of a data catalogue that will point users to credible sources of critical climate data needed to support identified use cases, she added.