Prioritizing climate change mitigation: An assessment using Malaysia to reduce carbon emissions in future

•Effective prioritizing of climate change mitigation shall reduce carbon emissions.•Carbon tax can reverse climatic damage in the long term.•Rising cost of carbon use will encourage firms to switch to carbon-free technologies.•Governments should stimulate environment-friendly technologies to stimulate sustainable development.

This study examines empirically climate change related vulnerability impacts, and remedial options as an optimal and applicable strategy by prioritizing needs in climate change mitigation over 95 years. An Empirical Downscaling Dynamic Integrated model of Climate and the Economy (EDDICE) is deployed using an optimal scenario for Malaysia against a baseline scenario of existing conditions following the top-down disaggregation strategy recommended by other studies. The model takes account of various climatic variables, including, temperature, carbon cycle, carbon emission, climatic damage, carbon control, and carbon concentration, which was adapted from observational records of climatic changes caused by global warming from 2010 to 2105. The results are interesting in prioritizing climate change mitigation for the future. Whereas the cumulative cost of climatic damage over the period 2010–2105 will amount to MYR40,128.1 billion under the present climatic regime in Malaysia, it will fall to MYR5263.7 billion under the optimal regime. In addition, the government would have collected revenue from carbon taxes amounting to MYR9535.4 billion over the 95 years.