November 30, 2018 2 min read

Malaysia puts its focus on promoting green industries and jobs in the ASEAN countries. The south-east Asian country hopes to promote the identification of the potentials and prospects for green industries and jobs in the ASEAN member countries during its tenure as the chairman of ASEAN labour sector, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The government of Malaysia is looking at developing the corresponding regional policies to promote green industries in the three-year period, said the Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Bin Mohammad, in the 25th ASEAN Labour Ministers Meeting.

The Malay government is also in talks with ASEAN countries China, Japan and South Korea for the brighter future of green jobs in South-east Asia.

He also talked about the boom in the employment rates of green industries across ASEAN. According to the 2017 Annual report by the Developmental Bank of Singapore, over the last two years, employment has grown by 3.2 per cent compared to the overall economic growth of five to six per cent, which is almost 1.4 million new green jobs created, as reported in the Development Bank of Singapore Annual Report 2017 on Green Job Opportunities in ASEAN.



"In the same vein, we have seen strong growth, particularly in the renewable energy sector such as wind and solar power, as well as the production of equipment and installations for heating and energy saving that subsequently create jobs in the region,” said Dr Mahathir.



"Looking forward, as technology evolves, we can expect an increase in the creation of new green jobs, and stronger growth in current occupations and greening industries," he said.

The Malaysian government is targeting revenue of RM 180 billion while creating more than 200,000 green jobs by 2030.

The Prime Minister Dr Mahathir said the Malaysian government aims to boost the growth of its green technology sector, with a targeted revenue of RM180 billion while creating more than 200,000 green jobs by 2030.

He added that the greening of the regional economy also demands that the people in the region specialise in the right skills, adapt to changes and seize the new opportunity.

The Prime Minister showed his optimism for the future prospects of the green industry sector. In the meeting, he said, now is the time for the government and workers’ and employers’ organizations to explore more into the green industries and skills across the Asia Pacific.