Progress in Renewable Energy Initiatives in Developing Countries: A Case Study in Malaysia

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris designed a climate action plan that is enacted via Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that are monitored every five years. The progress report assesses the achievements of long-term goals for global access to affordable and clean energy by 2030. However, recent progress has been hampered by the negative impacts of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, derailing current and planned policies to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) in developing countries. Malaysia has been making efforts to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and increase renewable energy (RE) adoption. The government has implemented several initiatives, such as including RE in the 5th Fuel Policy, the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) and undertaking various programmes to ensure that the energy sector continues to progress with innovative policies and technologies. Despite these efforts, Malaysia’s installed RE capacity remains low, contributing only about 10 410.25 MW (27.05%) as of 2023, far below the 31% target set for 2030. The country faces significant barriers to RE development, including financial, market, administrative, and sociocultural challenges. To overcome these obstacles and achieve its RE goals, Malaysia needs to offer more attractive incentives to investors, provide guarantees to the private sector, and raise public awareness about the importance of RE.