Climate Change goes missing in TPPA

"I have carried out more than 300 public engagements on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)", Datuk Seri Mustapha Mohamed said when tabling the trade deal on January 26 which Parliament then voted to ratify.

However, the Minister of International Trade and Industry never once said that the deal will help Malaysia fight climate change.

Because the term "climate change" does not appear at all in the text.

In fact, the closest reference to climate is an article within the environment chapter which reads, "The Parties acknowledge that transition to a low emissions economy requires collective action."

This is similar to using a pair of tweezers to break open a door when what is really needed is a sledgehammer.

Other parts of the environment chapter are not binding as parties – all 12 TPPA nations – are urged to "encourage private entities to obey environmental regulations".

The TPPA does not mention "climate change" because the drafters of this agreement do not think that climate change matters.

To tackle climate change, business models need to be altered in order to be sustainable.

This is key, especially in times when unabated lashing of the environment is taking place right before our eyes.

In the past months, Malaysia has been rocked by the bauxite mining debacle which is turning a whole state orange while risking the livelihoods of people in the vicinity.

But even prior to this, the recurrent smog which choked us year in, year out, was due to the actions of irresponsible business practices which throw the rule book out the window.

A Reuters report late last year showed that a Malaysian entity – among other companies – was being investigated by Indonesian authorities for contributing to open burning sending the poisonous smoke to our shores.

However, countries who have taken a stand on the environment have been sued instead of lauded for their steadfastness on climate change.

Germany is facing a €2 billion suit against Swedish energy giant Vattenfall, after the Scandinavians went beserk upon realising that Angela Merkel's government decided to do away with nuclear power plants.

Similarly, Spain is now being whipped by at least 16 companies after pulling back on subsidies to companies investing in solar power because it wants to transfer such subsidies directly to households.

Kenya, too, has been dragged to an arbitration panel by two British companies after cancelling a mining contract license.

Churchill Mining is also taking action against Indonesia for a similar decision, while Canada is in a tussle with Lone Pine after discontinuing a fracking licence which threatened Quebec's environment.

Worryingly, countries are being taken to task for upholding their environmental regulations – provisions allowed for in the TPPA – but these democratic states do not have the power to whip companies who bend the rule book.

Essentially, the glaring omission of "climate change" in the TPPA is an intended one simply because it costs money for businesses to change the way they make profit.

How then, is Malaysia expected to implement laws which reduce the impact of climate change, which fine companies caught engaging in open burning, or reprimand entities which dump waste in an irresponsible manner?

No, after the TPPA, Malaysia will be a sitting duck.

While climate change may have gone missing in the TPPA, make no mistake, it will come a-calling in reality very soon. – February 10, 2016.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer, organisation or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.