Bursa Carbon Exchange (BCX), Bursa Malaysia’s nascent carbon trading platform, will expand its product offering when it hosts an auction of its first Malaysian nature-based carbon credits on July 25.

The auction of carbon credits from the Kuamut Rainforest Conservation Project will continue, BCX says, to provide a reference price for carbon credit trading and set a tangible price signal for potential project developers to engage in forest carbon credits in Malaysia.

The Kuala Lumpur-based exchange is hopeful that the auction will generate greater interest from both domestic and international investors to invest in more carbon projects in the Southeast Asian nation, given its potential for both nature and technology-based carbon project developments.

The Kuamut project, located in the Tongod and Kinabatangan districts in Malaysia’s Sabah state, protects and restores 83,381 hectares of tropical forest, and is a public-private partnership between the Sabah Forestry Department and Rakyat Berjaya, Yayasan Sabah and Permian Malaysia.

At the end of March 2024, the project, which also receives operational support from PACOS Trust and the Southeast Asia Rainforest Research Partnership, saw its maiden issuance of verified carbon units under Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard, resulting in an estimated annual emission reduction of 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The project currently contributes towards 12 of the 17 goals and targets under the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework in addition to verifiable emissions reduction. It also, BCX notes, simultaneously delivers tangible climate, community and biodiversity co-benefits, earning itself a gold level for climate status under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards.

“Given the importance of the voluntary carbon market (VCM) in Malaysia’s climate agenda, the offering of the Kuamut project carbon credits is a significant milestone, indicating the nation’s environmental leadership,” states Muhamad Umar Swift, Bursa Malaysia’s CEO. “It signals to the world that the country is serious about climate action and its climate ambition. We are committed to advance the transition towards a lower-carbon economy by developing a supportive VCM ecosystem through BCX.”