KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is developing a new shariah-based framework, known as Sukuk Prisma SDG, to facilitate non-ringgit sukuk issuances that support climate adaptation, resilience and other national sustainable development priorities.
SC chairman Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi said the proposed framework will be built directly upon the regulator’s existing Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) Sukuk Framework.
“The idea is to focus on non-ringgit sukuk issuances that translate national priorities into clear, credible and globally recognisable purposes under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he said in a statement.
He said Sukuk Prisma SDG will be aligned with the Maqasid al-Shariah Guidance issued by the SC, while adopting the ASEAN Taxonomy and international green bond principles.
Mohammad Faiz said the proposed framework remained a work in progress, with the SC welcoming feedback on the initiative and other ideas to finance climate adaptation and resilience.
He said the need for sustainable and responsible finance has become increasingly urgent, requiring regulators, market institutions and other stakeholders to translate climate ambitions into concrete action.
For the SC, he said the priority is to facilitate the funding required to help economies adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change.
However, resilience must be embedded across economies through enabling market infrastructure and clearer adaptation-focused frameworks, including National Adaptation Plans that allow climate outcomes to be measured and verified.
“Without these foundations, scaling private capital towards climate resilience will remain constrained because investors cannot underwrite what they cannot measure,” he said.
Mohammad Faiz said stakeholders must also reconsider how returns are defined and risks assessed, including whether economic growth adequately accounts for the broader consequences of investment and development decisions.
He said new financial product structures must be prioritised to channel more private capital towards climate resilience.
These could include outcome-linked and resilience-based sukuk, blended finance approaches and other innovative structures aimed at improving the bankability of climate adaptation investments.
“Our task is to identify scalable and investable solutions capable of delivering measurable resilience outcomes,” he added.
