The Compendium of Environment Statistics Malaysia 2025, released by the Department of Statistics, offers a comprehensive snapshot of the country’s environmental landscape.
It presents data across six key components: environmental conditions and quality; environmental resources and their use; residuals; extreme events and disasters; human settlements and environmental health; and environmental protection, management and engagement. The data largely cover the period up to 2024.
Here, we highlight the most notable trends emerging from the yearly comparisons, from floods and greenhouse gas emissions to recycling rate. Previous editions of the compendium and other government data were referred to as well.
Going beyond the numbers, sustainability and climate change specialist Dr Renard Siew and WWF-Malaysia dissect the trends and offer insights into what the statistics mean for the country’s environmental future, and the challenges we face.
Rainfall and number of flood incidents reported: The increasing frequency and severity of floods in Malaysia are a clear signal that climate change is amplifying extreme weather events.
For so long, nature has often been treated merely as a resource, but it is crucial to understand that nature is also a vital form of natural infrastructure that provides multiple environmental services, such as water retention, flood regulation and temperature moderation, which protect people from disasters.
As nature is our first line of defence and its role is crucial in moderating the intensity of impacts and rate of climate change, it is important to understand that healthy ecosystems like forests, wetlands and mangroves act as natural infrastructure that could reduce flood risks.
The government should integrate future climate risk into all development plans and invest in nature-based solutions, as protecting and restoring these ecosystems, alongside better land-use planning, is essential to prepare for more intense rain events. — WWF Malaysia
Earthquakes: Climate change does not directly cause earthquakes, as seismic activity is primarily driven by tectonic processes. However, it can indirectly “influence” geophysical stress through changes in rainfall patterns, groundwater extraction and land loading.
While Malaysia remains a low-to-moderate seismic risk country, the rise in recorded incidents and the rare Johor earthquake (in 2025, with a magnitude of 4.1) underscore the importance of preparedness rather than complacency.
Strengthening seismic monitoring, integrating earthquake risk into land-use planning and enhancing building resilience are increasingly necessary as climate and environmental pressures intensify. Managing disaster risk today, in my opinion, must therefore take a multi-hazard approach that recognises how climate, land and geological systems intersect with each other. — Siew
Recycling rate: Malaysia’s goal was to increase the national recycling rate to 40% by 2025. The increase in recycling rates from 28.1% in 2019 to 37.9% in 2024 presents a significant progress, but much more still needs to be done.
A large proportion of household waste still ends up in landfills, with 61% of wastes sent to landfill in 2024. To address this, mandatory waste segregation for all households and businesses is essential. Local councils should explore appointing concessionaires and state-approved collectors to implement systematic recyclables collection.
The government should finance major infrastructure investments, while the industry supplements operating costs. In addition, awareness programmes and strict enforcement are critical to ensure compliance with waste segregation requirements. Without these measures, progress will remain limited despite increased spending. — WWF-Malaysia
Environmental protection expenditure: While the increase in spending is encouraging, the question is whether it matches the scale of environmental challenges we face.
Budget 2026, unfortunately, gives limited attention to nature. In fact, mapping allocations to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) show a drastic reduction for SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 15 (Life on Land) by 49.9% and 62.5%, respectively, compared to Budget 2025.
Beyond enforcement, greater investment is needed for habitat protection, restoration and connectivity, all of which are critical and essential for biodiversity, water security, food security and climate resilience. — WWF Malaysia
Distribution of coastal erosion areas: Sea level rise along the low-lying, sandy coasts of the east coast of Malaysia does not just damage infrastructure and property. It also allows saltwater to intrude into the groundwater, threatening access to freshwater that many communities rely on for their livelihoods.
Unlike disasters, sea-level rise works quietly, gradually raising the sea level baseline. This allows storm surges and high tides to travel further inland, making floods more frequent and severe.
Natural marine habitats such as mangrove forests, coral reefs and seagrass meadows are connected and play a vital role in providing multiple ecosystem services, such as natural barriers against wave actions, sedimentation stabilisation, water catchment and many more services that benefit recreational, economic and community resilience.
Nature-based solutions are actions that protect, restore and manage our natural environment, such as forests, mangroves, coral reefs and peatlands. They offer many benefits and could improve the resilience of communities and ecosystems against climate risks and impacts.
Ultimately, coastal management must strike a balance: supporting economic development while conserving nature to prevent loss and damage from floods, storms and other climate risks. — WWF-Malaysia
Greenhouse gas emission: Malaysia’s emissions profile shows a concerning plateau rather than a decisive decline, with fluctuations since 2017 masking the absence of structural decarbonisation.
While emissions dipped slightly from the 2020 peak, current levels remain far from the scale of reduction required to deliver an absolute 15 million to 30 million tCO2e cut by 2035 under Nationally Determined Contribution 3.0.
This suggests that efficiency improvements alone are insufficient without deeper shifts in the power mix, industrial processes and transport systems. To stay on track, Malaysia must move faster from ambition-setting to enforceable sectoral pathways supported by carbon pricing, transition finance and demand-side reforms. — Siew
Rainfall (mm)
2024 1,704.3 - 5,624.0
2023 1,429.2 - 5,213.6
2022 1,943.0 - 6,172.8
2021 1,589.2 - 5,365.8
2020 1,691.8 - 5,320.8
Number of flood incidents reported
2024 1,345
2023 809
2023 983
2021 1,057
2020 869
2019 535
Earthquakes
A total of 28 earthquakes in 2024 with magnitudes between 1.2 and 3.6, as compared to 21 incidents in 2023.
A total of 40 earthquakes in 2021 with magnitudes between 1.0 and 3.4, as compared to 56 incidents in 2020 with magnitudes between 1.1 and 3.6.
Recycle rate (%)
2024 37.9
2023 35.4
2022 33.2
2021 31.5
2020 30.7
2019 28.1
Environmental protection expenditure
2022 RM3.7bil
2021 RM3.1bil
Distribution of coastal erosion areas 2024
Total coastal area:
8,840km
Total erosion:
1,347.6km (15.2%)
Greenhouse gas emission
(gigagrammes CO2e)
(without land use, land use change and forestry)
2021 327,672.37
2020 331,363.48
2019 327,363.79
2018 318,106.50
2017 314,303.27
