BY JACINTHA JOLENE & LAKESH KUMAR
KUCHING: Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg today (May 13) officially launched the Sarawak Hydrogen Economy Roadmap, a strategic guide that will drive the state’s hydrogen agenda through 2035 and beyond.
Abang Johari said the initiative will serve as a compass designed to navigate both opportunities and challenges to accelerate Sarawak’s transformation into a regionally recognised clean hydrogen powerhouse.
“While we have made impressive strides, the journey is far from over.
“Scaling hydrogen to commercial levels requires massive capital investment, advanced technology, skilled talent and long-term policy stability.
“This is a very important document that will guide the policy implementation as well as the right approach towards the hydrogen economy,” he said in his keynote address titled ‘Charting A New Energy Future: Sarawak’s Hydrogen Economy in Action’ in conjunction with the Hydrogen Economy Forum held here today (May 13).
At a press conference later, he stated that Sarawak is the first to have a clear roadmap towards a hydrogen economy, effectively disproving the doubts of sceptics who remain unconvinced about the viability of hydrogen development.
As the hydrogen economy is a new approach to mitigate carbon emissions, he said this is part of the state’s contribution to mitigate and also lessen the effect of climate change, acknowledging that Sarawak is very blessed with natural resources.
“This (roadmap) is for us to strengthen our position and contribute to the world’s approach towards Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050.
“Sarawak is playing its part by introducing a lot of new technologies for us to implement the policies that are listed in the Sarawak Hydrogen Roadmap,” he said.
Moreover, through the state’s partnership with the London School of Economics (LSE) to advance the concept of natural capital, he believes this collaboration will spur the development of new technologies and strengthen sustainability efforts in addressing climate change.
At the same event, he also witnessed the exchange of letter of intent (LOI) between SEDC Energy and NGL Tech and memorandum of understanding (MoU) exchanges between Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and Bureau Veritas as well as Sarawak Petchem and HighChem.
