The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has signed a 2-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UN Global Compact Network Malaysia & Brunei (UNGCMYB) to further raise awareness, build capacity and increase adoption of sustainability and climate action across the digital economy in Malaysia.
The MoU will enable both MDEC and UNGCMYB to work together to raise awareness, build capacity, and increase adoption across businesses in the digital economy in five key areas:
- Developing a Climate Action Guide and Toolkit for digital economy businesses, to help them take action and to assess their carbon footprint;
- Exploring ways to increase access to chargeable sustainability e-learning programmes for tech small and medium enterprises (SMEs); and promoting freely accessible e-learning resources, including through the Digital UNGC Academy;
- Encouraging digital economy businesses to adopt initiatives that address Climate Change, for example renewable energy or energy efficiency measures;
- Promoting sustainable practices among tech organisations to help them achieve sustainable performance; and
- Developing and collaborating on outreach and engagement events.
The MoU builds on existing cooperation between both organisations, namely the Malaysia Businesses Sustainability Pulse Survey 2022 with MDEC as a partner.
The survey was launched on 14 July 2022 and aimed to gain an understanding of the extent of readiness of Malaysian businesses in adopting, measuring, managing, and monitoring sustainability within their respective organisations.
Chief Executive Officer of MDEC, Mahadhir Aziz, said the public-private approach towards championing sustainable actions is imperative and has been made a national development priority as outlined in the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP), which is aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
“Sustainability is not a new buzzword but an important goal that goes hand in hand with the development of a thriving digital economy. MDEC, as the lead agency in advancing Malaysia towards becoming a globally competitive digital nation, is fully committed to encouraging the adoption of sustainable practices in the digital economy ecosystem.
“Businesses may find it difficult to translate and relate to SDGs as these goals can appear to be beyond their grasp. Part of the efforts following today’s MoU signing is to help provide resources and actionable items that can be adopted by businesses to achieve SDGs,” he said.
He further highlighted that there are already ongoing efforts to encourage Malaysia Digital status companies to embrace and adopt ESG values.
Executive Director of UNGCMYB, Faroze Nadar added, “The digital economy will be the heart of global development moving forward, hence it will play an outsize role in ensuring sustainable development. With this partnership with MDEC we aspire that the Malaysian digital economy ecosystem will be a key catalyst for sustainable nation building and as a global contributor to achieving the SDGs”.
This MoU is aligned fully with the Government’s priority to continue building sustainable economic growth that is inclusive for everyone and to ensure that no one is left behind.
Mahadhir has also shared that there are ongoing efforts and discussions with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to establish ESG-themed grants for businesses.