Malaysia risks losing US$65 bil in revenue if local suppliers miss out on green transition, says expert

Malaysia stands to lose up to US$65 billion (US$1=RM4.485) in revenue if local suppliers do not undertake a green transition alongside their multinational company (MNCs) partners, said Sustainable Finance Institute Asia Ltd chief executive officer Eugene Wong Weng Soon.

可持续金融研究所亚洲有限公司表示，如果当地供应商不与跨国公司（MNC）合作伙伴一起进行绿色转型，马来西亚将损失高达 650 亿美元（1 美元 = 4.485 令吉）的收入行政总裁Eugene Wong Weng Soon。

He said while the green sector in Southeast Asia would pose an additional US$1 trillion worth of economic opportunities by 2030, the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and SMEs should grasp the opportunity and embrace the net zero carbon transition.

他表示，虽然到 2030 年东南亚的绿色部门将带来价值 1 万亿美元的额外经济机会，但中小微企业 (MSME) 和中小企业应抓住机遇，拥抱净零碳转型。

Albeit noting that the transition process would involve higher costs, which in turn might hinder some pandemic-battered small businesses from embarking on the journey, Wong said they could do it by riding on the supply chain.

尽管注意到过渡过程将涉及更高的成本，这反过来可能会阻碍一些受大流行打击的小企业踏上征程，但他表示，他们可以通过供应链来做到这一点。

“One way they can do this is to ride on the supply chain; we have to be very clear that as part of the supply chain, many customers have already embarked on the net zero targets (journey).

“他们可以做到这一点的一种方法是利用供应链；我们必须非常清楚，作为供应链的一部分，许多客户已经踏上了净零目标（旅程）。

“If they do not align with this, they will be left out from the supply chain, and a study by Standard Chartered revealed that up to 80% of MNCs plan to remove suppliers who fail to meet their carbon transition target by 2025,” he said at the Maybank Invest Asean 2022 virtual environmental, social, and governance (ESG) conversations, here on Aug 24.

“如果他们不遵守这一点，他们将被排除在供应链之外，渣打银行的一项研究显示，多达 80% 的跨国公司计划在 2025 年之前移除未能实现碳转型目标的供应商，”他在8 月 24 日 Maybank Invest Asean 2022 虚拟环境、社会和治理 (ESG) 对话中表示。

Wong said as MSMEs and SMEs are the backbone of the economy (which account for more than 97% of overall businesses in Malaysia), they are a big part of the economy and need to be a big part of the solution as well.

Wong说，由于中小微企业和中小型企业是经济的支柱（占马来西亚整体业务的 97% 以上），它们是经济的重要组成部分，也需要成为解决方案的重要组成部分。

He foresees sustainability as being a must-have business strategy and smaller businesses have to find ways to adopt it, in order to stay competitive in future.

他预见可持续发展是一项必不可少的商业战略，小型企业必须想方设法采用它，才能在未来保持竞争力。

However, unlike larger corporates which have easier financial access such as capital market, loan financing, or instruments like sustainability-linked bonds (SLB) and loans (SLL) to pursue their green transition journey, Wong said different forms of financing are needed for smaller companies, with loans remaining the easiest sustainable financial instrument for them.

然而，与大型企业不同，大型企业拥有更容易的融资渠道，例如资本市场、贷款融资或可持续发展相关债券 (SLB) 和贷款 (SLL) 等工具来追求绿色转型之旅，Wong 表示，小型企业需要不同形式的融资公司，贷款对他们来说仍然是最简单的可持续金融工具。

“While it is heartening to see many banks in Southeast Asia starting to reconfigure their lending policies to support the sustainability agenda for MSMEs, we also need to see how banks can intermediate,” he said.

“虽然看到许多东南亚银行开始重新配置其贷款政策以支持 MSME 的可持续发展议程令人振奋，但我们也需要看看银行如何进行中介，”他说。

Other than that, Wong said smaller businesses could also tap into peer-to-peer (P2P) crowdfunding platforms for green transition funds.

除此之外，Wong 表示，小型企业还可以利用点对点 (P2P) 众筹平台获取绿色转型基金。

“We have already seen some success (cases) in that and more are expected to come,” he said.

“我们已经看到了一些成功（案例），预计还会有更多成功，”他说。

While acknowledging that green transition is an expensive and high-cost journey for MSMEs and SMEs, Asian Development Bank principal financial sector specialist Mohd Sani Mohd Ismail opined governments could help by linking the recovery support subsidy, or financing under the stimulus packages, to green initiatives.

亚洲开发银行首席金融部门专家 Mohd Sani Mohd Ismail 承认绿色转型对中小微企业和中小企业来说是一个昂贵且高成本的旅程，他认为政府可以通过将复苏支持补贴或刺激计划下的融资与绿色倡议联系起来来提供帮助.

“This is an important opportunity to help MSMEs to make the transition, as they are the backbone of the economy; governments need to play their role to help them make the transition,” he said.

“这是帮助中小微企业转型的重要机会，因为它们是经济的支柱；政府需要发挥作用，帮助他们实现转型，”他说。

The Sustainable Finance Institute Asia Ltd is an independent institute established to catalyse ideas on sustainable finance at the policy level in Asia, particularly in Asean.

可持续金融研究所亚洲有限公司是一个独立的研究所，旨在促进亚洲政策层面的可持续金融理念，特别是在东盟。