KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's voluntary carbon market exchange will host an auction of its first Malaysian carbon credits on July 25, stock exchange operator Bursa Malaysia said on Monday.
The auction by the Bursa Carbon Exchange (BCX) would involve carbon credits from the Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project, which protects and restores 83,381 hectares of tropical forest in the Tongod and Kinabatangan districts in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, the bourse said.
The auction involves BCX's first Malaysia nature-based carbon credits generated via a domestic forestry project, and marks the expansion of its product offering to include local carbon credits in addition to global carbon credits, the bourse said.
"Given the importance of the voluntary carbon market in the nation's climate agenda, the offering of the Kuamut Project carbon credits is a significant milestone, indicating the country's environmental leadership," Bursa Malaysia chief executive Muhamad Umar Swift said in a statement.
"It signals to the world that Malaysia is serious about climate action and its climate ambition."
The BCX, the world's first Shariah-compliant carbon exchange, was launched in December 2022, with the aim of increasing transparency and enabling companies to buy carbon credits to offset greenhouse gas emissions. It completed its first carbon credit auction in March last year.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff, Editing by Louise Heavens)
