Malaysia's Third Iteration of the Nationally Determined Contribution.

This Third NDC of Malaysia is a multisectoral document that updates the previous NDC (NDC 2.0) developed in 2021 and aims to enhance the country’s climate ambition in line with the Paris Agreement by committing to peak national greenhouse gas emissions between 2029 and 2034 and achieve an absolute reduction of 15–30 MtCO₂eq by 2035, including conditional reductions supported by international climate finance, technology transfer, and capacity building. The NDC covers all major sectors: Energy, Industrial Processes and Product Use (IPPU), Waste, Agriculture, and Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF), and includes all seven greenhouse gases. The main objectives of the document are (i) establish Malaysia’s updated emission reduction target under the Paris Agreement; (ii) define the timeframe for implementation (2026–2035) consistent with UNFCCC requirements; (iii) strengthen transparency, clarity, and methodological robustness; (iv) ensure an inclusive, participatory, and well-governed planning process, reflecting input from ministries, state governments, the private sector, NGOs, academia, youth, and indigenous peoples; (v) align national climate actions with broader development priorities such as those included within national agendas, biodiversity conservation commitments, and socio-economic development priorities; (vi) outline Malaysia’s adaptation priorities for 2026–2035 across water resources, coastal areas, agriculture, infrastructure, public health, and biodiversity.
The document indicates the main strategies to be implemented within the main sectors as follows (i) the energy sector will drive deep decarbonisation through the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR), including retiring coal-fired power plants, expanding renewable energy capacity, modernizing the grid, promoting natural gas as a transition fuel, and reforming fossil fuel subsidies; (ii) the transport sector will accelerate modal shift to low-carbon public transport through major rail investments and support the adoption of electric vehicles and hydrogen technologies; (iii) in the waste and industrial sectors, methane capture will be expanded in solid waste management and wastewater treatment facilities, and industrial decarbonization will be supported through emerging technologies such as carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS); (iv) the land use, forestry, and biodiversity sectors will strengthen forest conservation through updated legislation, improved sustainable forest management, and expanded protected areas, contributing both to mitigation and ecosystem resilience. Collectively, these actions position Malaysia on a pathway consistent with the global objective of limiting warming to 1.5°C.