**6. Conclusions**

In recent years, sustainability has been promoted by the addition of carbon trading as a vital strategy for an agricultural business. Palm oil is one of the biggest traded commodities and has provided many benefits to health, society, the economy, and the environment. Many policies have emerged in Malaysia with regard to achieving the SDGs' agenda. The palm oil industry's potential in carbon trading project utilisation in Malaysia could be improved with governmen<sup>t</sup> encouragemen<sup>t</sup> in the carbon market post-2020.

This paper has explored carbon trading implementation challenges in Malaysia that will assist in leading the opinions on problems and solutions for a better transition. In the struggle over palm oil's sustainability, Malaysia has shown a strong desire to promote itself as a significant palm oil hub in the South-East Asia region, with extra payback from carbon trading implementation. Thus, the governmen<sup>t</sup> has to play a more active role. The governmen<sup>t</sup> can improve conditions for local development by providing funding opportunities and policies that could increase carbon trading's competitiveness. Supportive policies need to be developed to enhance the implementation and investment from the private sector in the agricultural sector, particularly in the palm oil industry. The new trend of business opportunities has accelerated the palm oil sector's development towards a sustainable future and improved process e fficiencies. Despite the challenges to be solved, the on-going R&D into palm oil carbon trading projects are expected to promote a more advanced generation of palm oil bioenergy and biotechnology, where high value-added products and bio-based chemicals are produced, and technology enhancements are provided for the palm oil producers. In this study, carbon trading projects' positive sustainability impacts have contributed to new intervention in the palm oil industry towards more sustainable production, with improvements in procedures and policies, alongside the SDGs agenda. Through technology transfer and engagemen<sup>t</sup> in carbon trading projects, Malaysia might meet its target in reducing the regional temperature to 1.5 degree Celsius, in accordance with the Paris Agreement pledge that the targeted carbon emissions would be reduced.

This paper o ffers an original contribution to the research field in carbon trading within the palm oil industry. It aims to improve the understanding of palm oil producers and policymakers for future developments in carbon trading and its impact through contributing to a sustainable future with opportunities to drive sustainable development and the climate change mitigation strategies in order to achieve SDGs. By understanding the challenges in carbon trading implementation, this study hopes to further develop and enhance new approaches and to encourage continuous improvement in environmental projects that soon will become the new period of future development. Moreover, the challenges relating to the di fficulty in implementing the CDM will help policymakers, practitioners, and other industries to understand and manage future climate mitigation strategies.

The concept of sustainability has pinned a promising outlook for the palm oil industry to continue the development and growth of palm oil use. Despite the challenges with the legal dimension, the financial conditions and the green resources and capabilities, the palm oil industry still shows a significant inflow of investments and has been following Malaysia's extensive economic growth. Furthermore, Malaysia will be able to utilize its substantial green potential by developing a robust supply network for proper palm oil supply and demand connections in the carbon market. The potential of the mitigation action objectives will enhance the sustainability performance in the palm oil industry in Malaysia, in line with the SDGs.

**Author Contributions:** T.A.A.T.H. and Z.Z. designed and developed the paper; Data Analysis and Formatting was conducted by S.O. and K.M.S.; writing—original draft preparation was conducted by M.M.Y.; writing—review and editing was conducted by Z.Z.; visualization was conducted by A.A. and A.S.; supervision was conducted by T.A.A.T.H. and A.A.

**Funding:** This paper is supported by the University of Malaya—(UMRG) SUSCI Grant no. RP024A-17SUS and IPPP Grant PG247-2015B.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
