Biodata

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rasyikah Md. Khalid

Deputy Dean, Research & Innovation, Faculty of Law, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia.

Rasyikah M Khalid is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law UKM and an associate fellow of Fuel Cell Institute UKM. She obtained her PhD from UKM, Master of Law (LL.M) from Universiti Malaya and her Bachelor of Law (LL.B) from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. In 2012 she completed three postgraduate courses in Building Resilience to Climate Change (BRCC) from the United Nations University (UNU) Tokyo and was appointed as a teaching assistant for the online BRCC courses in UKM. She was a visiting researcher at the UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science at the University of Dundee Scotland. With various types of training, she has equipped herself to be an interdisciplinary researcher. She is currently a certified mediator at the Malaysian Mediator Centre, an important skill that she uses to solve environmental dispute cases. She has been consulted by agencies, including the World Bank Group and the Economic Planning Unit of Malaysia, and mass media on matters pertaining to environmental issues in the country. She is a Board member of the International Sustainable Development Research Society (ISDRS). Her research includes environmental law, energy law, climate change and development law.

Speech detail

“Just transition toward de-carbonization.”

The Paris Agreement calls for the decarbonization of the global economy in order to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It sets a framework for countries to regularly report on their emissions reductions and progress toward meeting their climate targets. It calls for the transition towards decarbonization, to shift from using fossil fuels to cleaner, renewable energy sources. This, however, raises questions if the transition to a low-carbon economy is fair and equitable to all stakeholders. Fundamental liberties of the workers and communities that are currently dependent on fossil fuel industries should not be left behind as the transition takes place. The transition must also consider the social and environmental injustices that have been associated with the fossil fuel industry, such as pollution, health impacts, and displacement of the marginalized. An in-depth evaluation of just transition is desired to guarantee the fundamental liberties of all stakeholders toward decarbonization.