Securities Commission Malaysia, together with ICAEW Malaysia, launched the Coastal Flooding Adaptation & Resilience (COFAR) Challenge, inviting university students to develop practical and financially viable adaptation solutions for Carey Island in Selangor, which faces rising risks from sea-level rise, storm surges and saltwater intrusion. The initiative sits within the Commission’s Adaptation & Resilience agenda, aimed at building climate adaptation capabilities and supporting long-term resilience through the capital market. The Challenge asks teams to propose scalable designs that combine infrastructure and nature-based measures, and to include a revenue-generating financial model. SD Guthrie is the technical partner providing site-specific guidance and has committed to implementing feasible solutions; it owns 79% of Carey Island and cited a gap analysis indicating existing flood mitigation measures such as sea walls, bunds and water management have been costly with limited returns, while managing over 100 kilometres of bunds around the island. Southeast Asia Disaster Prevention Research Initiative (SEADPRI-UKM) is the knowledge partner, supporting the science-policy-academia link for disaster risk reduction. Finalists will pitch at the ICAEW Sustainability Summit in November 2025, with winners receiving up to MYR 50,000 in cash prizes and recognition at the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum International Conference in November 2025. The Challenge is open to students from all universities in Malaysia and Malaysian students studying abroad, with teams of five to six members including at least one accounting or finance student and one engineering student.

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