Rising demand for green skills training in Malaysia

In 2015, ahead of the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris, Malaysia pledged to cut carbon emissions intensity by 45 per cent by 2030. A key point in the plan was the pledge to conserve the Malaysian rainforest, which is one of the oldest in the world.

But critics argued that the government needed to do more in order to improve the energy mix in its power supply. Malaysia still relies heavily on coal which is a major source of the generation of greenhouse gases worldwide. Due to the dynamic economic development of the country, the number of coal-fired plants is expected to rise even further. This will add to the carbon problem instead of reduce it. It is and will be one of Malaysia's major challenges to leapfrog old technology and continue to grow at the same time.

"In 2008, Malaysia established the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water to promote green technology and ecolabels. Knowledge on this special technological area has been growing over the years and today many Malaysians are aware of its benefits", says Augustine Koh, Secretary General of Green Purchasing Network Malaysia and Director of International GPN Berhad. "Industry is interested to venture on the topic of sustainability in order to assist the government to achieve its climate targets. Yet the main efforts in this direction so far focus on technology and materials, with some focus on green skills training."

First steps to enhance the "green Focus" have been taken, though. The Malaysian government with its Ministry of Human Resources has already engaged in international cooperations to develop green jobs in Malaysia. Between 2012 and 2015, the so-called "Green Jobs Malaysia" project was carried out together with the International Labour Organization (ILO). It aimed at raising the capacity of the government and social partners in Malaysia to have a clearer understanding of the prevalence of green jobs across the economy and in sectors and identify entry points for further green job creation, as well as to identfy supply side gaps like skills development.

The project has created a pool of national experts from government, social partners, academe and research institutions, capable of promoting and monitoring the compliance to Malaysia's National Competency Standards on Green Technology. What is lacking, are specialists for the implementation of concrete skills development measures.

According to Augustine Koh, there will be a high demand for green skills training in Malaysia in the future. "But due to the lack of proper practical training programmes and trainers as well as master trainers, we are not able to qualify people and create the necessary expertise. The absence of experts in this field is the reason why it will take time to properly promote the design of appropriate skills trainings in cooperation with the Ministry of Human Resources."