Around 19% emissions reduction from over 7,400 KtCO2e to over 5,900 KtCO2e emissions in 6 years—ICLEI and Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) Member Seberang Perai’s environmental efforts are paying off and the city is making strides towards its climate change mitigation targets.
Having implemented initiatives focused on energy production and consumption, building urban green spaces, and the circular economy, significant carbon dioxide avoidance and sequestration have been recorded. These actions have also resulted in equally important co-benefits impacting the quality of life of the local community.
The negative effects of climate change are only exacerbating over the years on a global scale, with the Paris Agreement still far from reaching its below 2°C target. Seberang Perai, Penang, Malaysia is no exception to climate change and its negative effects. Understanding the severity of the situation, the Seberang Perai City Council (MBSP) has done numerous green initiatives including those that involve renewable energy, energy efficiency, creating urban green spaces, and the circular economy.
These initiatives have resulted in the reduction of GHG emissions from 7,429.42 KtCO2e in 2016 to 5,985.89 KtCO2e in 2021. Useful lessons abound from MBSP’s significant efforts in tackling climate change, including the need to focus on both people and the environment, forming public-private partnerships, and building public trust to foster community participation in the fight against climate change.
Reducing GHG emissions to combat climate change
With the steady rise of global temperatures, a landmark agreement was made to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable, low-carbon future—the Paris Agreement. This legally binding international treaty currently involves 196 nation–states who have pledged to limit global warming to well below 2°C, preferably to 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels, through the reduction of GHG emissions.
Yet, 400 Metric tonnes of CO2—which comprises 66% of the greenhouse gasses responsible for the warming of our planet—was emitted globally just last year in 2021. Worse, this figure is only expected to increase in the coming years.
Numerous methods have been and are being taken globally towards reducing future carbon emissions. These include utilizing renewable energy, energy-saving initiatives, carbon sequestration, and waste management.
Shifting towards renewable energy as well as energy efficiency initiatives helps reduce the reliance on fossil fuels and other non-renewable energy sources that are the main sources of CO2. Carbon sequestration—the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide—in the form of planting trees is another effective means of climate change mitigation, with trees acting as a natural absorber of CO2.
Waste management also presents itself as a critical climate crisis solution. Mismanagement of food wastes produces 10% of all global GHG emissions and mismanagement of plastic wastes causes plastic leakage into oceans, harming the aquatic life needed for carbon sequestration and productivity of fisheries. In this sector, the transition to a circular economy is one of the most holistic means of combating the waste problem associated with traditional, linear modes of production and consumption.
The Seberang Perai Context
Such climate actions are being undertaken locally by ICLEI member Seberang Perai City Council (MBSP). Its current Mayor, Dato’ Azhar Bin Haji Arshad, serves as an Advisor to the ICLEI Climate Action and Low Emission Development portfolio.
Seberang Perai is the mainland counterpart of Penang state, located towards the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia. With a growing population of over 1.1-million residents as of 2020, Seberang Perai’s economy focuses on the agriculture, manufacturing, and services (especially eco-tourism) industries.
Like other urban cities in the world, Seberang Perai faces both the short- and long-term effects of climate change.
Current predictions have the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia experiencing an average sea level rise of 0.07–0.14 meters by 2040. This puts major areas of Seberang Perai at high risk of being inundated by seawater by 2050. Coastal flooding threatens the city’s agricultural lands, affecting not only its crop output but the region’s overall food security as well.
Besides rising sea levels, the city is susceptible to droughts, floods, storms, heatwaves, landslides, and wildfires, giving rise to resource, public health, and socioeconomic issues.
In the years leading up to 2016, Seberang Perai saw rising GHG emissions. 7,429.42 KtCO2e was emitted in 2016, equating to over 8 tCO2e per capita. Stationary energy consumption—or emissions coming from fuels used for electricity generation—made up the bulk of this figure with 3,234.07 KtCO2e emissions.
Acknowledging that more needs to be done to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change, Seberang Perai declared a climate emergency in 2016. Since the declaration, Seberang Perai has made climate actions that collectively achieved a per-person reduction of carbon emissions from 8.37 tCO2e to 5.39 tCO2e from 2016 to 2021, equivalent to a 33% reduction in five years.
Seberang Perai’s green efforts
MBSP’s climate achievements thus far feed into its goal of being a Low Carbon City by 2022, a Carbon Neutral City by 2030, and a Zero Carbon City by 2050.
The city’s sustainable development efforts are outlined in its 2021 report titled Seberang Perai Achievement in Low Carbon City & Smart City. These include a range of successfully implemented and upcoming initiatives categorized into five domains— Smart Environment, Smart Community, Smart Mobility, Smart Government, and Smart Economy. The first three of these domains are anchored on the concepts of renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon sequestration, and circular economy.
Smart Environment – Sustainable Energy Consumption via LED Street Lighting
MBSP has made huge efforts to replace HPSV street lights with LED units, with the aim of using LEDs for 100% of all street lights in the near future. LED lights allow Seberang Perai to save on operational costs as they are more energy efficient than traditional lighting methods. Because they use less energy, LED lights also reduce the city’s reliance on fossil fuels, thus reducing its carbon emissions.
Specifically, Seberang Perai has already replaced over 27,000 units of HPSV street lights as of August 2021. MBSP’s Lighting Guidelines also require housing developers to install LED streetlights for all types of new developments in the city.
Smart Environment – Solar Energy Consumption
MBSP has partnered with various private companies to facilitate its transition to renewable energy. In 2020 alone, the city finished the installation of a 100 kWp solar photovoltaic system on government building rooftops as well as 55.4 kWp and 88.4 kWp solar power systems in two separate sports complexes.
MBSP also has a policy that makes it compulsory for commercial complexes with floor space exceeding 5,000 square meters and commercial developments with a permitted plot ratio exceeding 1:3 to obtain 15% of their energy use from renewable energy sources. On a wider scale, MBSP is aiming to achieve 15% of energy consumption on mainland Penang to come from RE by the year 2030.
In addition to cost savings, the city council can sell excess generated power and get energy credit on a “one-to-one offset basis” to further reduce its electricity bill and augment the city’s energy security.
Additionally, MBSP also completed its independent 58.3 kWp solar panel installation project on the rooftop of one of its motorcycle parking garages in December 2020.
Lastly, MBSP has undertaken other public-private partnership projects to install a 20MW solar farm in a sanitary landfill and a 1,300.5 kWp solar installation on the rooftop of a commercial store.
Smart Environment – Recycling—Smart Consumption Model 8R
Established in 2018, MBSP expanded on the usual 3R Model—Reduce, Reuse, Recycle—to create a more comprehensive framework with their Smart Consumption Model 8R that aims to reduce 50% of waste from going to the city’s landfill and increase the recycling rate to 70% by 2022.
- Read more at ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
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