THE Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), in partnership with ICAEW Malaysia, has launched the Coastal Flooding Adaptation & Resilience (COFAR) Challenge—a national competition inviting university students to develop practical, scalable adaptation strategies for Carey Island, a coastal area in Selangor grappling with the effects of sea-level rise, storm surges and saltwater intrusion.
The Challenge forms part of the SC’s broader Adaptation & Resilience agenda aimed at nurturing innovation, building capacity and advancing long-term climate resilience through capital market engagement.
“It brings together students from various fields to find real solutions for coastal flooding, especially along Malaysia’s vulnerable west coast,” said SC Chairman Dato’ Mohammad Faiz Azmi at the launch webinar.
“We believe the ideas that shape tomorrow must begin today – and they must come from the next generation.”
The COFAR Challenge will see participants apply both scientific and financial lenses to their designs.
“We are proud to support the COFAR Challenge as it empowers the next generation to apply financial insight to real-world climate issues,” said Shenola Gonzales, Head of ICAEW Malaysia.
“By equipping future professionals with the skills to design viable, resilient solutions, we’re helping to embed sustainability and innovation at the heart of finance.”
Technical input will be provided by SD Guthrie Berhad (Guthrie), which owns 79 percent of Carey Island and manages over 100 kilometres of bunds around its plantations there.
“Our technical team has conducted a gap analysis of existing flood mitigation infrastructure, such as sea walls, bunds and water management on the island, which have proven costly and offer limited returns,” said Jeffry Faizal Kamaruddin, Guthrie’s CEO of Upstream Malaysia.
The Southeast Asia Disaster Prevention Research Initiative (SEADPRI-UKM), serving as knowledge partner, brings expertise in disaster risk reduction.
Dr Nurfashareena Muhamad, Head of SEADPRI-UKM, said: “The COFAR Challenge exemplifies the kind of interdisciplinary collaboration that is urgently needed to tackle climate threats at the community level.
“By integrating science, policy and finance, we can empower young Malaysians to design adaptive solutions that are not only technically sound, but also locally grounded and economically viable.”
Carey Island was selected as the site for the live case study due to its representativeness of other vulnerable coastal regions in Malaysia and the broader Southeast Asian region.
Students will be tasked with proposing hybrid solutions, combining engineered and nature-based interventions—ranging from modular infrastructure and mangrove buffers to aquaculture and eco-tourism.
Proposals must include a revenue-generating financial model and be designed with scalability across Selangor’s west coast in mind.
Finalists will present their ideas at the ICAEW Sustainability Summit in November 2025, and winners will receive up to RM50,000 in cash prizes and recognition at the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) International Conference later that month.
The competition is open to all university students in Malaysia and Malaysians studying abroad. Teams must comprise five to six members, including at least one student each from the finance/accounting and engineering faculties. - August 12, 2025
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