KUALA LUMPUR — National utility company Tenaga Nasional Bhd has committed RM43 billion to upgrade the national grid infrastructure, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

He said that the upgrade will incorporate artificial intelligence and battery energy storage systems to build greater resilience and flexibility for the future.

“We must invest in improving efficiency and reducing emissions within our existing energy systems, a formidable task, given that fossil fuels still account for nearly 80 per cent of global supply.

“Most importantly, this transition must be anchored in equity,” the prime minister said in his keynote address at the Energy Asia 2025 conference today.

Anwar also issued a reminder that decarbonisation efforts that ignore the needs of the poor and vulnerable risk deepening inequality.

Touching on Asean, he highlighted that the bloc has already laid the groundwork for this pragmatic pathway through the Asean Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Deployment Framework and Roadmap, which aims to streamline policies and facilitate the flow of capital and carbon across borders.

“Malaysia is doing its part. Earlier this year, we passed the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage Bill 2025 to provide a regulatory foundation for this emerging sector.