KUALA LUMPUR: There must be continuous effort to educate the business community to prevent them from using their commitments towards sustainability as mere marketing tools.
Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said all government agencies and companies must avoid doing so and guard against "greenwashing".
He said they need to translate their commitment to environmental sustainability into action plans.
"It is not enough to simply claim to be concerned about sustainability... what we must now do is to ensure that our rhetoric turns into action and that our actions have credibility.
"This is something that the traditional pondok is teaching: it is not all about what we say but most importantly our 'amal' (practise)," he said at the launch of the "International Madani Symposium on Sustainability: What Can The Civilisation of Islam Offer?" here today.
Present was Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim) director-general Associate Professor Datuk Dr Mohamed Azam Mohamed Adil.
Organised by Ikim and the ministry, the symposium is aimed at identifying the root cause and symptoms, assess the major shortcomings of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) approach and to propose solutions based on how Muslims perceive the reality of these problems.
The panelists at the event included Health Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Zaini Ujang, who is the former energy, green technology and water minister; Ikim fellow Dr Muhammad Syafiq Borhanuddin; Raja Zarith Sofiah Centre for Advanced Studies on Islam, Science, and Civilisation (RZS-CASIS) visiting scholar Datuk Dr Syed Ali Tawfik Al-Attas and Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute chief executive officer Danial Rahman.
Nik Nazmi said Muslims have for centuries recognised that a proper perspective, attitude, and conduct towards the environment is a matter of ethical and civilisational imperative.
"Throughout the history of the civilisation of Islam, the external and internal conditions of the world have been seen as interconnected.
"Thus, when Muslims of the past designed cities or buildings, the entire ecosystem, including the spiritual reality of man and the universe, is considered — this is adab (loosely translated as manners) towards the environment.
"There are many pro-environment practices that were established in the more than one-thousand period of the civilisation of Islam worldwide, that remain instructive today," he said.
Nik Nazmi said the unity government and his ministry were committed to exploring and implementing sustainable actions and practices.
This, he said, was reflected at the core of the government's key economic policies, namely the National Energy Transition Roadmap, the New Industrial Main Plan 2030, the 12th Malaysia Plan midterm review and the 2024 Budget, which was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat early this month (Oct 13).
"I think what would be of particular interest would be how the tenets of the religion can guide us in ensuring justice and inclusivity in the various transitions that will need to take place to successfully address climate change.
"Most countries in the world are now seriously concerned with it but the great barrier is to ensure that climate action, which will require thorough changes like energy transition, does not cost societies jobs, growth, development and living standards-especially in the developing world.
"This is something that the nations of the Muslim and developing world must come together on, like it has so inspirationally in the cause of our Palestinian brethren in fact of the latest savageries inflicted upon them in Gaza and elsewhere.
"This unity should also apply to the securing of a just climate action even as we continue to stand up for a free and sovereign Palestine."