“But just last month, Potsdam confirmed that seven have now been breached, the latest being ocean acidification.  This means humanity has already moved beyond the safe space for long-term resilience,” he said at the ASEAN Capital Markets Dinner yesterday.

Sultan Nazrin said the task is not simply to tackle climate change but to bring our entire economies back within these boundaries in all nine areas.

He pointed out that around the world, countries are investing billions into renewable energy — from solar and wind farms to hydropower and hydrogen.  Businesses are reducing their emissions through energy efficiency, greener buildings, and electric vehicle fleets.

He said carbon markets are emerging as powerful mechanisms to fund emission reduction, protect ecosystems, and empower communities.  

“From renewable energy projects to nature-based solutions, these markets help provide pathways for lower-carbon growth.

“Yet, as with any intervention aimed at improving planetary health, their success depends on credibility and transparency.  I commend the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum for its foresight in developing a region-wide Voluntary Carbon Market Development Plan, an essential step towards a trustworthy regional framework for decarbonisation,” he said.

His Royal Highness also commended ASEAN regulators for their work on the Mitigation Cobenefit and the Adaptation for Resilience Guide, which strengthens the ASEAN Framework and provides practical pathways for financing resilience.

Meanwhile, Sultan Nazrin urged Malaysia to assert a greater sense of moral accountability in how it defines prosperity, saying that, “for too long, profit has been pursued without regard for environmental and social consequences.  But profit without purpose is fragile; it undermines the very systems that sustain it.”

He said placing human dignity and empathy at the heart of finance, and protecting the well-being of future generations, are central to the aspirations and principles embodied in the Securities Commission’s (SC) 2023 Maqasid Al-Shariah Guidance for the Islamic Capital Market Malaysia.

The SC’s guidance provides the ethical compass for aligning financial systems with the principles of planetary health.

Sultan Nazrin noted that Malaysia has now charted its own path forward through the National Planetary Health Action Plan, a national framework — the first of its kind in the world — that translates the science of planetary health and planetary boundaries into practical governance and economic action.

“It is a roadmap of how business, government and society can work together to realign growth with the Earth’s limits.  But the Action Plan also signals a deeper shift, one that challenges how we measure success itself.

“The pursuit of return on investment has long guided business strategy.  The next frontier demands a broader lens, however: a return on values approach.  This means judging progress not only by financial profit but by the social, environmental, and moral good that flows from it,” he said.

Sultan Nazrin said the action plan provides the scaffolding for such a transformation by offering businesses a national framework through which to redefine value, directing capital towards ecosystem restoration, sustainable food systems, circular production, and resilient supply chains.

“These are not acts of charity, but strategic investments in long-term planetary stability and therefore, in enduring prosperity.

“Let us therefore unite science with values, capital with conscience, and progress with compassion.  Let our region be a model of climate resilience and planetary stewardship,” he added.

-- BERNAMA