
UM ranks 25th globally in THE Impact Rankings 2025
The university's standout achievement was clinching the No. 1 global ranking for SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals, with a score of 99.8 per cent, reflecting its strong international collaborations and strategic commitment to sustainable development.
UM's active involvement in global networks such as the ASEAN University Network, Asian Universities Alliance and United Nations Academic Impact has further strengthened its influence across sectors and borders.
UM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Seri Dr Noor Azuan Abu Osman said the recognition reaffirms the university's commitment to building a sustainable and inclusive future.
'The success that we have achieved now is the derivation from our tireless collective efforts from the entire campus community in transforming the strategic sustainable and green plans into a practical reality, benefiting not only the immediate society, but where solutions churned out will benefit the future generations and the world as a whole,' he said in a statement.
He said UM would continue to advance its sustainability goals through intellectual and research excellence, while embedding sustainability as a cultural value.
'We will continue to progress towards achieving the new milestones of creating a brighter, resilient and sustainable future for future generations, with the advent of both intellectual and research advancement and the strategic embrace of a sustainable culture and concept,' he added.
UM also recorded strong performances in several other SDGs. It ranked 4th globally for SDG 1: No Poverty, in recognition of efforts such as financial aid, affordable housing, and festive season transport assistance for students. The university's community outreach programmes also support underprivileged groups in accessing basic needs, education and health services.
For SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, UM was placed 7th globally, driven by its green campus initiatives and sustainability policies aligned with Malaysia's Higher Education Blueprint.
The university also made significant progress in SDG 15: Life on Land, jumping into 12th place globally, reflecting major gains in biodiversity conservation and environmental education.
These achievements further underscore UM's role as a global leader in sustainability and its pledge to become a carbon-neutral campus by 2030.
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Malay Mail
15 hours ago
- Malay Mail
ESG reforms key to restoring trust in sustainable finance — Nahrizul Adib Kadri
JULY 26 — The global sustainable finance market has reached an inflection point. With the United Nations estimating that $4 trillion annually is required to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing has moved from the periphery to the centre of financial decision-making. Yet fundamental challenges threaten to undermine its credibility and effectiveness. The evolution from socially responsible investing in the 1990s through Corporate Social Responsibility in the 2000s to today's ESG framework reflects a growing recognition that non-financial factors materially affect long-term returns. However, this progression has exposed critical structural weaknesses in how we measure and verify sustainability claims. The most pressing issue facing sustainable finance is the absence of standardised ESG metrics. Different rating agencies routinely assign contradictory scores to the same company, creating confusion for investors and opportunities for manipulation. While quantifiable factors like carbon emissions can be measured with reasonable accuracy, subjective elements such as governance quality remain poorly defined. This inconsistency enables 'rating shopping', where companies selectively engage with agencies likely to provide favourable assessments. The reliance on self-reported data compounds these problems. Without mandatory third-party verification, companies face few barriers to exaggerating their sustainability credentials. This has given rise to various forms of misrepresentation: greenwashing (inflated environmental claims), brownwashing (concealing harmful practices), and greenhushing (deliberately understating sustainability efforts to avoid litigation). Each undermines market integrity and investor confidence. As an example of the perverse incentives created by ESG frameworks, consider Malaysia's used cooking oil (UCO) market. European regulations favour sustainable aviation fuel made from waste products like UCO over virgin palm oil, creating a premium for supposedly 'used' oil. The result: fresh cooking oil in Malaysia sells for approximately $0.60 per kilogram while UCO commands $1.00. This price differential has spawned an entire fraudulent ecosystem where fresh oil is passed off as used, defeating the environmental purpose while enriching intermediaries. Criminal syndicates have emerged to exploit this arbitrage, mixing subsidised fresh oil with UCO shipments. The environmental impact is precisely opposite to what regulators intended — instead of reducing waste, the system creates additional demand for palm oil production and associated deforestation. This cooking oil fraud exemplifies a broader pattern in sustainable finance: well-intentioned regulations creating unintended consequences. When the market values the appearance of sustainability more than actual environmental impact, rational actors will supply that appearance. The UCO case demonstrates how ESG metrics, divorced from rigorous verification, become vehicles for fraud rather than instruments of change. Current regulatory frameworks remain inadequate to address such systemic failures. The UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment, while well-intentioned, lack enforcement mechanisms. Signatories can claim adherence without meaningful implementation, reducing these principles to symbolic gestures. The European Union's binding regulations offer a more promising model, yet as the UCO example shows, even mandatory frameworks can be subverted without proper verification systems. Recent empirical evidence raises additional troubling questions about ESG implementation. Research on board diversity reveals that companies with female directors experience greater IPO underpricing — approximately $13 million more left unclaimed. This suggests that markets may value the appearance of ESG compliance over substantive impact, indicating that much ESG adoption remains performative rather than transformative. The tension between fiduciary duty and sustainability goals has become increasingly apparent. BlackRock's legal challenges exemplify this conflict, with the asset manager facing lawsuits from both ESG advocates and critics. This highlights the fundamental question: can investment strategies prioritise sustainability while maintaining competitive returns? The financial sector's response to this question will shape the future of sustainable investing. These challenges occur against a backdrop of declining public trust in financial institutions. Survey data indicates that confidence in finance professionals has deteriorated more rapidly than in other sectors since the mid-1990s. This erosion of trust creates additional obstacles for ESG adoption, as sceptical stakeholders question whether financial institutions can credibly champion sustainability. Proposed technological solutions present their own paradoxes. Blockchain technology could enhance transparency in ESG reporting, but its significant energy consumption contradicts environmental objectives. Such contradictions illustrate the complexity of implementing sustainable finance solutions. For Malaysian financial markets, these global trends carry important implications. The UCO fraud case demonstrates how local markets can be distorted by international ESG requirements. As international investors increasingly integrate ESG factors into allocation decisions, local companies and financial institutions must navigate between genuine sustainability commitments and performative compliance. The choice of regulatory approach — voluntary guidelines versus mandatory standards with robust verification — will significantly influence market development. The path forward requires addressing fundamental weaknesses in the ESG ecosystem. Standardised metrics must replace the current patchwork of rating methodologies. Independent verification should become mandatory, not optional. Regulatory frameworks need enforcement mechanisms that ensure accountability. Companies must move beyond symbolic gestures to substantive changes in business practices. Financial institutions face a credibility test. After decades of prioritising short-term profits, they must demonstrate that their commitment to sustainability extends beyond marketing rhetoric. This requires acknowledging trade-offs between immediate returns and long-term sustainability, rather than perpetuating the fiction that all ESG investments automatically enhance profits. The sustainable finance sector stands at a critical juncture. The gap between its promise and current practice threatens to undermine legitimate efforts to align financial markets with environmental and social objectives. As the Malaysian UCO case illustrates, without rigorous verification and enforcement, ESG frameworks can create perverse incentives that worsen the very problems they aim to solve. Closing this gap demands rigorous standards, authentic leadership, and regulatory frameworks that distinguish genuine sustainability from performative compliance. The $4 trillion question is not whether sustainable finance can work, but whether market participants will implement the reforms necessary to make it work. For emerging markets like Malaysia, the decisions made today will determine whether sustainable finance becomes a driver of meaningful change or another chapter in the long history of financial sector disappointments.


The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
Learn the language of business and finance to make sustainable and social initiatives bankable
TO reach global environmental and social goals, such as the SDGs or the decarbonisation of the energy system, we need serious funding. Serious funding both in terms of scale (we need billions) and in terms of its source (from commercial finance). Commercial finance comes from financial institutions such as banks, pension funds, asset managers, corporates, private equity, and single- or multi-family offices, which together manage most of the world's private capital. While philanthropic or government grants can often help to start an initiative, serious funding (commercial finance) is needed to sustain and scale initiatives to the levels that society needs. In many conversations about sustainable and social finance, the word 'bankable' is often a kiss of death. 'Yes, we agree this is a splendid initiative!' the bankers say, 'it has great potential and would make a large impact!', however they will wistfully add, 'but it's just not bankable!' Much gnashing of teeth and beating of chests follow. The position of funders in these situations makes sense: They have an obligation to their investors and depositors to not lose money, and ideally, to make a steady return. They reach funding decisions by looking at certain financial metrics, typically a risk-weighted return on investment. If those numbers do not look good, the project is not bankable. Social and sustainable projects are often not bankable because they have no real business model, and because they are not setup in a way that makes sense for commercial funders. On paper, they seem far too risky. Finding a business model Every initiative that aims to attract commercial funding needs a business model. Many social or sustainability initiatives focus on the impact they want to make, but forget about how they will generate revenue to cover their costs. Dr Pieter E. Stek is a senior lecturer at the Asia School of Business (ASB). There can be many potential streams of revenue. A nature conservation project could charge visitors. A recycling project could generate revenue by recovering materials, or generating energy. An infrastructure project could charge fees to users or residents who benefit, or generate a steady income from green mortgages extended to buyers of sustainable or energy-efficient homes. And so on. If these initiatives increase biodiversity or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, some kind of credit might also be issued and sold. In many cases, such business models require some degree of regulatory support. Governments may need to give a concession to the project operator (charging visitors), allow parties to organise in certain ways (like a residents' association), or they can incentivise firms to buy credits. While gaining regulatory support may seem daunting, it is important to remember that social and sustainability projects often align with public policy goals. This makes governments more receptive to supporting social and sustainability initiatives, especially if they don't require a budget allocation. However, creating a viable business model is just a first step in securing commercial financing. Speaking the language of finance From a financial perspective, the bankability of a project depends significantly on how it is 'structured' or organised, and three pieces of financial theory can help understand how financial institutions think about social and sustainability projects. The first is portfolio theory, which posits that a mix of investments, which offer returns spread out over time, is more attractive. If a project is organised so that it delivers both explicit and extrinsic benefits now and also in the future, over and above its cost of capital, it is more financially attractive. Many social and sustainability projects take too long to deliver results. The second is real options theory, which considers that having an option to scale-down, scale-up, defer, or cancel a social or sustainability project, has a very large impact on its financial viability. Options, like an insurance policy, have positive value (premium). Projects with flexibility embedded in them, and with a good 'exit strategy', are more financially attractive, as are projects which can scale. Doing something for the first time is risky, and therefore investors can be reluctant to provide funding. However, once a project is successful, many investors are eager to jump in and profit margins are reduced. To induce investors to invest first, governments can also give them an exclusive 'option' to participate in scaling-up their solution. If an organisation completes project 'A' first, it has the right to also complete project 'B', 'C' and 'D'. Such options can make the proposition to invest in project 'A' much more attractive. The final theory is debt layering: While commercial investors may be unwilling to accept certain risks, philanthropic organisations and governments may be more accepting. The first layer of potential losses could be absorbed by a philanthropic or policy investor. Such a 'first-loss warranty' is a form of credit enhancement that reduces the project's downside risk and carries a positive value for investors. This could give commercial investors the assurances they need to fund the second layer of a project. This structure is beneficial to the policy investor too, because it allows them to mobilise more funding. For example, instead of spending US$1bil directly, a guarantee of US$1bil could lead to another US$9bil of commercial funding. Making it bankable To support and scale social and sustainability initiatives, viewing them through the lens of business models and commercial finance is critically important. While bankers should understand the impact of projects better and think beyond narrow financial metrics, promoters of social and sustainability projects also need to learn the 'language' of business and finance if they want access to 'serious' funding.

Barnama
3 days ago
- Barnama
PM's Announcement Timely, Provides Relief Amid Rising Cost Of Living Pressures
Experts contacted by Bernama described the Prime Minister's announcement as timely, highlighting the government's commitment to building a fairer and more prosperous future for the people. KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (Bernama) -- The much-awaited announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, made in appreciation of all Malaysians, was finally unveiled today, offering a ray of hope and underscoring the government's continued concern for the people's well-being. He said the announcement came amid mounting challenges, including food inflation, soaring house prices, burdensome loan interest rates and global economic uncertainty. Universiti Malaya sociopolitical analyst Datuk Professor Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said several of the measures introduced by Anwar brought significant benefits to the people, particularly in alleviating the burden of the rising cost of living. They viewed it as a clear reflection of the government's concern over the public's struggles with the rising cost of living, as well as a step towards restoring confidence and stability in the national economy during these challenging times. The Prime Minister also announced that there would be no increase in electricity bills for the majority of domestic consumers in Peninsular Malaysia following the restructuring of electricity tariffs that took effect this month. Earlier today, Anwar announced several key initiatives as a gesture of appreciation to the people, including a one-off RM100 aid under the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) programme, a freeze on toll hikes for 10 highways, and a targeted subsidy bringing RON95 fuel price down to RM1.99 per litre. 'Any government initiative that helps ease the people's burden should be welcomed. This announcement comes at a critical time, as many are caught in a cycle of household debt, employment uncertainty and a widening income gap,' he told Bernama. In fact, he said 85 per cent of domestic users would see up to a 14 per cent reduction in their July 2025 bills for the same level of usage compared to the first half of this year. Awang Azman said the one-off assistance was much needed as an interim measure while awaiting more structured and far-reaching government policies through the upcoming budget or the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP). He said that the initiative also demonstrated the prime minister's concern for the people's real needs. 'The next step is not just to provide temporary relief but is expected to be expanded through the upcoming budget and the 13MP, which will address root issues such as the wage-cost of living mismatch, the need for affordable housing, and the strengthening of the social safety net,' he said. Awang Azman pointed out that attention needed to be given to transparency and efficiency in implementation to ensure the initiatives truly benefited the deserving groups. 'Effectiveness lies not only in the content but also in how the initiatives are implemented. Is the monitoring mechanism transparent enough to prevent leakages? The real challenge for the MADANI government is to implement this policy with integrity and efficiency so that it truly serves the people at the grassroots level,' he added. Meanwhile, director of the MBA & DBA Programme at Putra Business School Prof Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff said the government had shown attentiveness to the people's concerns by announcing immediate aid without waiting for the 2026 Budget. 'The assistance is provided immediately to individuals and those in need without waiting for next year's budget to be tabled. Although inflation is low, the reality is that many still require direct aid,' he said. Rejecting views suggesting the announcement was purely populist, Ahmed Razman said the cash assistance also extended to those in the M40 group, who were often mistakenly perceived as sidelined in aid distribution. Political analyst Prof Datuk Dr Sivamurugan Pandian viewed the good news announced by the prime minister as a continuation of various incentives and assistance introduced by the MADANI Government to ensure the people continued to receive direct and ongoing benefits. 'I believe this is not the end. There will be several more phases rolled out later, depending on the government's position and capabilities at that time,' said the sociology of political society lecturer at Universiti Sains Malaysia. While some regarded the announcement as a temporary measure, he said it nevertheless had a significant impact amid rising cost of living pressures. Citing the announcement that RON95 would be priced at RM1.99 per litre once the targeted subsidy takes effect, Sivamurugan said it demonstrated that the Prime Minister had delivered on one of his promises. 'If we look at the Prime Minister's social media branding prior to the announcement, it clearly hinted at the petrol price that the public had been eagerly awaiting. 'It might seem like a small decrease but it has a big impact because he is fulfilling a promise the people have been waiting for,' he said. Sivamurugan said the government's ability to meet the people's immediate needs while maintaining sound fiscal management showed an inclusive approach prioritising public well-being without undermining the country's financial position. --BERNAMA BERNAMA provides up-to-date authentic and comprehensive news and information which are disseminated via BERNAMA Wires; BERNAMA TV on Astro 502, unifi TV 631 and MYTV 121 channels and BERNAMA Radio on FM93.9 (Klang Valley), FM107.5 (Johor Bahru), FM107.9 (Kota Kinabalu) and FM100.9 (Kuching) frequencies. Follow us on social media : Facebook : @bernamaofficial, @bernamatv, @bernamaradio Twitter : @ @BernamaTV, @bernamaradio Instagram : @bernamaofficial, @bernamatvofficial, @bernamaradioofficial TikTok : @bernamaofficial