Assessing CO2 Emissions Potential Using Satellite Data: A Case Study of Malaysia's Highlands

Abstract. Environmental issues are a significant concern impacting the ecosystem, and analysing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in Malaysia's highlands is crucial. Most spatial regions in the highlands in Malaysia were significantly affected by the excessive release of CO2 due to various factors significantly contributed to by dynamic industrial activities. This phenomenon may also be affected by the changes in other external variables in the highlands, such as air temperature and atmospheric moisture. The Grey Relation Analysis (GRA) approach is proposed in this study to investigate the correlation between CO2 emissions and multiple variables. The findings utilizing the GRA method are important in understanding other variables that contributed to the increase in CO2 emissions. Hence, a suitable strategy can be suggested to control the variables and substantially lower CO2 emissions. To accomplish this, Giovanni, a satellite database remote sensing, has been selected and used to gather all related data within Cameron Highland, Genting Highland, Kundasang, and Kelabit Highland. The comparison between the multiple variables shows that the proposed method has higher accuracy, which presents that the correlation between atmospheric moisture and CO2 emissions has significant outcomes in proving the variables that have been affected by the CO2 emissions. The analysed results via the GRA method show that the most affected variable due to the CO2 emissions is atmospheric moisture, where Cameron Highland states the higher grey relational coefficient (γ = 2.8125) compared to the other associated factors within the other highlands.