Sultan Nazrin calls for capital, climate action, innovation for resilient future

KUALA LUMPUR: The Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, has urged a collaborative approach towards building a resilient and sustainable future by combining capital, climate action, and innovation. At the 17th SC-OCIS Roundtable, titled "Building Resilience: The Intersection Between Capital, Climate and Innovation," Sultan Nazrin emphasized that these three priorities are often discussed individually, despite their interconnectedness and shared importance in addressing future challenges.

He highlighted that the world is increasingly recognizing the consequences of treating capital and climate as unrelated issues, citing Dr. Umer Chapra's work. Sultan Nazrin warned that pursuing economic growth without addressing other social objectives could lead to short-term gains at the expense of inequality, family breakdown, and social unrest. He stressed that the environment is also a trust that must be protected, warning that no generation has the right to consume the inheritance of the next.

Recent extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and devastating floods, have demonstrated the growing consequences of environmental degradation, which Sultan Nazrin attributed to human greed and thoughtlessness. While acknowledging the importance of economic growth, particularly for Malaysia as it continues toward high-income status, the Sultan cautioned against growth driven solely by greed.

He called for economic growth to be aligned with climate action, emphasizing that capital and investment must play a significant role in addressing the environmental crisis.

The Sultan urged the financial community to adopt a longer-term perspective, pricing risks that unfold across decades rather than quarters, and to recognize that the most enduring returns are those that endure. He also highlighted Islamic finance as a model for responsible and sustainable investment, calling for greater use of sukuk, waqf-based mechanisms, and green and blue financing instruments that prioritize impact over commercial convenience.

In terms of innovation, Sultan Nazrin asserted that human ingenuity has continuously solved seemingly unsolvable problems. He cited advancements in clean energy, efficient agriculture, water management, and resilient construction as examples of technologies that could help combat the climate crisis. However, he warned that innovation must be guided by a purpose and supported by knowledge, stressing the need for targeted innovation that drives behavioral change and technical fixes.

Sultan Nazrin underscored that climate recovery will require time, and that the impact of humanity's mistreatment of the planet does not manifest immediately. He stressed the importance of acting now, as the positive changes made today could take decades to become visible. The Sultan also placed justice at the center of the climate discussion, noting that developing countries, many of which are young and populous, are often the most vulnerable to the consequences of global warming despite not contributing significantly to it.