KUALA LUMPUR: Stronger corporate accountability alongside sustainability and climate laws is becoming vital as climate change poses growing legal, economic and environmental risks worldwide, say experts.
Climate Governance Malaysia (CGM) council chairman Dr Gary Theseira said climate change was affecting ecosystems beyond forests and terrestrial biodiversity, including increasingly vulnerable marine ecosystems.
“There’s also the worrying number of reported storms that form in the Pacific due to warm sea surface temperatures,” he said in his opening remarks at the Climate & Law Conference 2026 here yesterday.
To this, Theseira said progressive ideas on how to apply sustainable laws or practices in corporate governance are now just as important as having the laws themselves.
“We need to think further ahead if we are going to actually adequately address the impacts of climate change,” he added.
Securities Commission (SC) chairman Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi said Malaysia’s climate vulnerability had significant economic implications despite the country accounting for only 0.7% of global carbon emissions.
He said rising temperatures and changing weather patterns could affect productivity, public health, food security and biodiversity, with heat stress posing a significant economic risk.
“In fact, under a high-impact scenario, it’s estimated that heat stress alone could reduce our gross domestic product by up to 16% by 2050. It’s a stark warning,” he said in his opening speech at the event.
Mohammad Faiz said the World Bank estimates Malaysia would need about RM3.5 trillion for climate adaptation and resilience financing to avoid the worst-case scenario.
To raise the funds, he said companies needed stronger sustainability disclosures to demonstrate how they were managing climate-related risks.
Asian International Arbitration Centre Court of Arbitration president Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan said corporate decision-makers must take wider public interests into account now more than ever.
“Business decision-makers must be reminded of how they are affecting other people and everyone’s rights.
“No one should be told that they have to go to court to assert their right to live and have a livelihood,” she said.
Held from Sept 21 to 23, the CGM Climate & Law Conference 2026 brought together dozens of legal practitioners, key policymakers, industry leaders and climate experts to examine the evolving relationship between climate change, law and governance.
