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The onshore Baram Delta, located in NW Sarawak is the birthplace of petroleum production in Malaysia. The Miri oilfield was first discovered in 1910 and subsequently abandoned in 1972 with intermittent exploration activities in the late 1980's to early 1990's. To rejuvenate exploration interest and to identify remaining hydrocarbon potential of the study area, in 2009-2010 JX Nippon acquired gravity, then regional 2D seismic data, followed-by exploration well drilling from 2011-2014. This paper discusses the social-environmental impacts and concerns associated with these petroleum exploration activities, from acquisition of seismic where explosives and vibroseis were used as a source of propagating signals, to exploration drilling with petroleum chemicals such as water-based muds used to facilitate the drilling operations. Overall, the inquiry addresses operational challenges, security of explosive storage and concern for handling explosives in the field, the social-environmental impacts of seismic acquisition operations, as well as removal of drilling fluid chemicals and disposal of contaminated cuttings. Containment procedures and mitigation measures undertaken to alleviate these social-environmental impacts are discussed according to the guidelines and regulatory requirements provided by the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), in conjunction with PETRONAS Procedures and Guidelines for Upstream Activities (PPGUA) and the company's Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Management System. In the final analysis, significant environmental and social challenges were certainly encountered while planning and conducting petroleum exploration activities in the study area. These challenges include problems related to topographic variabilities, permitting issues, compensations for affected lands and cash crops; layout constraints, drilling operations, well control measures for blowout prevention, traffic controls, potential damage to infra-structures, explosive and equipment transportation. However, with proper planning, effective communication with the local authorities, and awareness sessions conducted for the affected parties and stakeholders; together with the support of the local communities the operations have not only managed to mitigate these social and environmental concerns, the exploration activities also provided economic benefits such as hotel accommodation, logistics and transportation demands for local businesses, and short-term employment opportunities for the local people. Ultimately, the operations successfully acquired nearly 900-line km of seismic across many villages, longhouses, and in the city areas, with four exploration wells were drilled in the exploration block. We are glad to report that both seismic and drilling operations were conducted successfully and safely with minimal interruptions to people and environment, without untoward incidents or spills. With the mitigation measures in place, there were no damages other than land access, which were remediated, where incurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental impact assessment of glucose production from paddy milling waste, known as empty and partially filled paddy grain (EPFG) in Malaysia, was performed using life cycle assessment (LCA). Three scenarios were conducted based on system expansion of the process. The LCA was conducted using ReCiPe methodology at midpoint and endpoint levels. The results indicate that enzymatic hydrolysis phase is the hotspot in the conversion system due to enzyme production. In addition, the agriculture phase also contributed to negative impacts, especially towards climate change. An improved environmental load was observed in scenario 2 when all EPFG fractionation was utilised to replace fossil-based electricity. Sensitivity analysis showed an increase in glucose yield leads to reduced environmental impact. Thus, the LCA study suggests that the conversion process of EPFG could further benefit and improve the paddy industry waste management with low impact contribution to the environment compared to other feedstock used for glucose production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although some studies have posited that sectoral growth could influence environmental pollution through energy consumption, the issue has not been explicitly and empirically investigated in the carbon-neutrality literature. Hence, this analysis fills the gap in the extant literature by employing the interaction models to ascertain the moderating role of energy consumption on the environmental impacts of the industrial, agricultural, financial, and service sectors in Malaysia. It also analyzes the marginal effects of sectoral growth on environmental pollution (i.e., ecological footprint and carbon emissions) at various levels of energy consumption. The Autoregressive Distributed lag technique utilized in this study found that the variables are cointegrated. The empirical estimations reveal that energy consumption plays a harmful moderating role on the impacts of the industrial and financial sectors on environmental pollution but does not aggravate the environmental impacts of the agricultural and service sectors. Besides, the marginal effects of the industrial and financial sectors on environmental pollution increase as the level of energy consumption rises in Malaysia. Based on the findings, this study highlights the policy implications and options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of buildings and other infrastructures has many environmental impacts and contributes significantly to climate change. Construction companies are likely to adopt green purchasing practices because of increased environmental sustainability pressures. This problem is mainly due to inefficient construction practices and the construction industry's lack of green purchasing practices. Thus, this study aims to investigate the factors influencing green purchasing (GP) adoption in Malaysian construction companies. Green purchasing in the construction industry was studied through extensive literature analysis and a questionnaire survey. A questionnaire was distributed to representatives of registered construction companies with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). The results display that government regulation, stakeholder pressure, top management support, corporate factor, material supplier, subcontractor relationship, and expected business benefits are seven factors that could motivate the organisation's adoption of green purchasing practices. The regulators and policymakers, statutory bodies, government-linked corporations (GLCs), construction companies and suppliers might find these factors beneficial in improving green purchasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic activities have aroused great concern in terms of the negative impact on ecosystems and human health. With rapid industrial development, Malaysia has experienced problems with regard to mercury pollution. Knowledge of the mercury emission and release inventory, and the main factors that ameliorate the environmental impact of anthropogenic activities, will contribute to environmentally sound mercury management, which is becoming increasingly urgent in Malaysia. In this study, inventories for total mercury emission and release in 2019 were devised to understand pollution sources. A life cycle impact assessment was used to identify the major factors contributing to the overall environmental burden. The environmental impact of anthropogenic mercury releases was compared between (sub)source categories. The total mercury input in 2019 was 36.4 t, of which 30.4 t were released to the natural environment under the output scenario of mercury release with no emission control. The respective amounts of 12.7, 1.8, and 15.9 t of mercury were released to air, water, and land. The environmental burden to terrestrial ecosystem imposed by mercury release was higher than that to freshwater and marine ecosystems. The harm to human health was 4,785 DALY, and harm to ecosystem was 0.85 species/y. The category of coal combustion was the largest contributor to the harms of human health (44 % of total impact), followed by cement production (11 % of total impact), and natural gas extraction and combustion (11 % of total impact). The category of gold mining (no amalgamation) was the largest contributor to the harms to ecosystems (76 % of total impact), followed by coal combustion (11 % of total impact). The result of this study can provide a scientific information to policymaker for strategic management of mercury in Malaysia [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]