Abstract

The paper discusses how corporate managers in Malaysia view climate change which would provide an insight of the level of awareness and perception regarding climate change in this sector. It also attempts to make a comparison between outcomes of the survey to that of past studies in other countries. The survey reflects that corporate managers in Malaysia are concerned about climate change, demonstrating a wide general awareness of the issue. In the context of climate change and company’s profit, a majority of the corporate managers perceived that climate change will affect the company’s operation and profits while a lesser percentage expressed ‘no affect’ on these and also viewed climate change as a serious problem that should be addressed at the global level. In addressing climate change issues of the country, most of the corporate managers perceived that the government should take responsibility while half of them were of the opinion that the business and corporate sector should also take responsibility. The important distinction is the strategic scope regarding climate change, as corporate managers in Malaysia have been shown to exhibit differences concerning the extent to which they feel responsibility for tackling climate change issues. The paper also suggested corporate sectors in Malaysia to pay attention in making inventories and setting targets with respect to GHG emissions that will lead the Malaysian government’s commitment of a voluntary reduction of up to 40 percent in terms of emissions intensity of GDP by the year 2020 compared to 2005 levels, in cooperation with the public and private agencies, industry, community as well as other stakeholders.

Key words: Corporate sector, climate change, awareness, perceptions, policy, Malaysia.