Malaysia’s Green Economy is Here. Who Will Deliver It?

By Associate Professor Ts. Dr. Lee Yong Siang

Sustainability has crossed a threshold. It is no longer an exercise tucked away on the sidelines of corporate reporting. Today, it directly influences how companies compete, control costs, access capital, and protect their standing in global supply chains.

In Malaysia, the shift is already taking shape at scale. Around 130 of Bursa Malaysia’s largest Main Market companies, representing over 80% of total market capitalisation, came under ISSB-aligned sustainability reporting requirements in 2025. From 2026, the requirements extend to the remaining Main Market listed issuers.

But reporting is only the visible part of the transition. The harder shift is happening inside organisations.

Setting ambitious net-zero targets is one thing. Delivering on them calls for people who can connect environmental goals with engineering, financial decisions, procurement, operations, and risk management. That responsibility cannot rest solely with an ESG team.

The green skills gap is not simply a shortage of sustainability specialists. The greater challenge is building workforce capabilities to translate sustainability commitments into business decisions, measurable outcomes and day-to-day practices.

LinkedIn’s 2025 research found that demand for green talent was growing twice as fast as supply. The World Economic Forum also ranks environmental stewardship among the top 10 skills rising in importance towards 2030.

The message for businesses is straightforward: sustainability literacy is no longer useful only to ESG teams. It is becoming part of good business decision-making.

The built environment illustrates this well. Decisions on materials, energy use, construction methods, procurement, and asset performance carry both environmental and financial consequences. By the time they appear in a sustainability report, many of the choices shaping that performance have already been made.

The same principle applies across sectors. Sustainability should not be viewed simply as another business expense or compliance obligation.

Sound decisions require an understanding of systems, trade-offs, and long-term effects, not simply ESG terminology or disclosure requirements.

An ESG initiative may require upfront investment, yet the return may come through lower energy consumption, greater resource efficiency, reduced operational or regulatory risk, stronger supply-chain resilience or better access to financing.

So the question should not stop at, “How much will sustainability cost us?” We should also be asking, “What value can it create, and what could inaction cost us?”

This ultimately comes back to people. Investing in capability is just as critical as investing in new technology or reporting systems.

The green economy will need sustainability specialists, certainly. But its success will depend just as much on engineers, managers, finance professionals, project teams, and decision-makers who know how to turn sustainability goals into workable choices.

That is when sustainability becomes part of how organisations think, decide and operate.

This article first appeared in the Daily Express on 28 September 2026.

For professionals seeking to turn sustainability goals into practical decisions, WOU’s Master of Science in Sustainability combines sustainability management, environmental assessment, climate and energy solutions, and emerging technologies. Delivered online, the programme includes applied projects addressing real-world challenges.

About the Author