Welcome
to CGM News

In September, I participated in IAEA consultations on the application of climate standards to nuclear energy projects. The discussions brought together nuclear industry representatives and climate experts from different countries. My main takeaway was that these two professional communities still have much to learn from each other. That is quite challenging, considering the forthcoming COP31 and all the Just Transition negotiations. Nuclear energy has one of the lowest carbon

In Parts I through III of this series on Water Bankruptcy, we saw how of the more than 972.8 billion cubic meters of water that Malaysia receives in average annual rainfall, 413.1 billion cubic meters (42.5%) is lost to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration, 64 billion cubic meters (6.5%) infiltrates into the ground to recharge our groundwater reserves, and 495.7 billion cubic meters of water (51%) remains as surface runoff. We also saw that, at least officially, a relati

In Malaysia, the increasing threat of climate-related disasters such as catastrophic floods, droughts, landslides, coupled with heat waves and rising sea levels, has led the government to change its approach to addressing emerging threats and to improving long-term resilience. Understanding national climate risk governance is important in an era of increased environmental instability and climate change. Contemporary corporate frameworks and public governance structures often

In the initial article on Water Bankruptcy, we noted that of the more than 972.8 billion cubic meters of water that Malaysia receives in annual average rainfall, 413.1 billion cubic meters (42.5%) is lost to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration while 64 billion cubic meters (6.5%) infiltrates into the ground to recharge our groundwater reserves. If you have been following the math, this leaves 495.7 billion cubic meters of water (51%) as surface runoff - the equivalent o

Malaysia's new reporting rules will push companies to name their climate risks. Naming them is the easy part. The harder question is whether anyone in the business could say how long the business would keep running if the water simply stopped. Could your most critical facility keep running if its main water supply were interrupted for 72 hours? A company may know how much water it uses, its storage capacity, even its contingency arrangements. But does it know where that water

Climate resilience is often discussed in terms of how much it will cost us to adapt. But perhaps we need to ask a different question: how much are we already paying because we have not adapted? In Malaysia, heavy rainfall alone is estimated to have resulted in some US$7 billion in lost economic output between 2015 and 2024, according to the World Bank’s 2026 Country Climate and Development Report. But the costs are not only economic. Malaysia’s Ministry of Health recorded 73

On March 22 , 2026, we celebrated World Water Day. Two months earlier, in January , the United Nations University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) warned the world was entering an era of “global water bankruptcy”. In conjunction with World Water Day 2026, BERNAMA published an article asking, “Water Bankruptcy Is Coming. Are We Prepared? The official reply from Putrajaya two days later, from the Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation: M

With its long history and enormous global influence, the financial-industrial complex is not much bothered about climate change, poverty, SMEs or Malaysia. It is concerned solely about wealth preservation for the elites. Since leaving the gold standard and with digitisation, money is simply debt created for free in digital form by government and banks, with the majority of us scrambling to work within the system. Currently, the creation of artificial intelligence is holding e

Despite this article’s title around pivoting “away from high-carbon business models”, the truth is that global greenhouse gas emissions are still increasing. The Global Carbon Budget estimated a 1.1% increase in CO2 emissions in 2025. Rising incomes in emerging markets, electrification, and AI adoption are leading to rapid growth in electricity production, which is to a large degree still dependent on fossil fuels (58% globally). Although the future trajectory of global emiss

In June of 2025, the IFRS Foundation formally recognised Malaysia as the only ASEAN jurisdiction adopting ISSB Standards with limited transition — a major milestone, made possible through the development, adoption and implementation of the National Sustainability Reporting Framework (NSRF). This global acknowledgment highlighted Malaysia’s alignment with ISSB’s IFRS S1 & S2 standards, the adoption of climate-first reporting with phased Scope 3 disclosures, and finally, suppor

But Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand weren’t the only storm-ravaged countries in Asia. While Senyar romped in our backyard, Tropical storm Ditwah, to the west, ravaged Sri Lanka, and Tropical cyclone Koto, to the north-east, devastated central Vietnam. Interestingly, during this period of about a week, these were the only tropical cyclones in the world, as shown in the screen capture below from windy.com The three storms were even observed to interact, bringing back-to-back p

Figure 5. The pH, temperature, tidal height and salinity of seawater measured in situ at ∼ 1 m below low water at Chowder Bay, Sydney over a multi-day period. Grey and white boxes indicate the time between sunset and sunrise. Red dots indicate values of reference samples collected adjacent to the device and measured using spectrophotometry But like many phenomena, there is more to ocean acidification than meets the eye, and analogous to the relationship between the atmosphere

This is an important point because it reflects a sea change in our understanding of what causes droughts. As the image (left) explains, between 1949 and 1999, droughts in the Western United States were caused mostly by a lack of rain (or snow), and only very rarely, in the states of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming, by high temperatures. Since 2000, on the other hand, we see that apart from a coastal belt running from Western Washington State in the Northwest, South t

However, when viewed from a sustainability and resilience standpoint, smallholders, by virtue of their diversity in size, placement in the landscape and varied ownership and management structures give them a measure of resilience not achievable by large plantation companies. In a small holding, multi-cropping practices result in multiple income streams, greater biodiversity and the flexibility of prioritizing or deprioritizing the palms in response to demand or price can resu

In part two, I presented a summary of the portion of the seminar dealing with the second question: What are the legal consequences, if any of breaching these obligations? In addition, I contextualized the AO’s characterization of the application of l ex specialis from the standpoint of developing countries’ negotiating positions and showed how the ICJ had, in effect, affirmed what developing countries have consistently maintained, that the principles of the Convention remai

In this second part, I present a summary of the portion of the seminar dealing with the second question: What are the legal consequences, if any of breaching these obligations? I will also contextualize the AO from the standpoint of a developing country negotiator at the many COPs and Subsidiary Body meetings in which I have served as a national delegate over the years. As mentioned in part one, this three-part series is based on the proceedings of a Seminar entitled: The ICJ

In part two, I plan to present a summary of the portion of the seminar dealing with the second question, what are the legal consequences under these obligations? I will also contextualize the AO from the standpoint of a developing country negotiator at the many COPs and Subsidiary Body meetings in which I have served as a national delegate over the years. Finally, in part three, I will cover the part of the seminar that examined the implications for Malaysia, and potential i

In June 2025, western Europe as a whole saw its warmest June on record, with an average temperature of 20.49°C, surpassing the previous record for the month from 2003 by only 0.06°C. Two major heatwaves led to ‘very strong heat stress’ in large parts of western and southern Europe, with ‘extreme heat stress’ and feels-like temperatures reaching 48°C in parts of Portugal. Spain experienced its warmest June in 64 years while England reported the highest temperatures for June si

The Sector Volatility Factor: From Glaciers to Lightning Strikes Industries face radically different risk horizons. In stable sectors like utilities or infrastructure, climate-related risks (e.g., sea-level rise) unfold over decades. Here, annual materiality assessments will suffice—provided they incorporate long-term IPCC scenarios and regulatory forecasts. For example, Malaysia’s Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), according to their 2024 sustainability report, conduct a comprehe

A strong rationale to implement a no-regrets initiative could be feedstock transition due to natural depletion of current reserves, or uncertain supply due to geopolitical risk . The adoption and promotion of Green Hydrogen by the Chemicals and Iron and Steel industries due to finite natural gas reserves as well as carbon pricing (making gray hydrogen unsustainable financially) is a good first example. In this area, we see companies like Thyssenkrupp piloting green hydrogen