By Nur Dianah Suhaimi
(Picture: PM Lee Hsien Loong launching the Clean and Green Singapore 2010 campaign with a tree planting session at the HortPark on Friday. - ST Photo)
CLIMATE change is one of the biggest challenges ahead for Singapore, and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the country will bear its fair share of the global effort to reduce emissions.
This is despite the fact that Singapore's carbon emissions are a 'negligible' part of global output, and it is not among nations which committed themselves and were obliged to make specific cuts in greenhouse gas emission levels.
'We don't have this obligation,' he noted yesterday in a reference to what is known as Annex I countries.
'But as a responsible member of the international community, we have to bear our fair share of the collective global effort to reduce carbon emissions.
'Therefore, provided other countries also commit to do their part in a global deal, we will reduce emissions from 'business-as-usual' levels and do what we need to do with other countries to reduce humankind's carbon dioxide emissions.'
Speaking at the launch of the Clean and Green 2010 campaign at the HortPark yesterday, Mr Lee said that Singapore faced serious limitations in switching to alternative energy sources or reducing its dependence on fossil fuels.
'We are what you call alternative energy disadvantaged,' he said. 'We do not have geothermal energy, we do not have space for a nuclear plant. All we have are power stations that import energy,' he said.
Singapore has made significant efforts over the years to protect the environment and ensure that growth could be sustained without significant damage to the environment.
The most recent move was the the launch in April of the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint to ensure, among other things, that resources - especially energy - are used efficiently.
The blueprint, drawn up by the private and people sectors together with the Government, calls for long-term carbon emission cuts in households, businesses and industries.
Mr Lee described it as a 'major national effort' to reduce emissions.
And yesterday, he also launched a new Energy Efficiency National Partnership programme to help companies be more energy efficient.
The main draw for companies to join the new initiative is the electricity cost savings they will get to enjoy.
'It makes sense for you and it makes sense for the country,' he told industry players.
It will be a huge coup if the industry sector joins in this latest 'green' effort.
According to the National Environment Agency, the petroleum refining, petrochemical, electronics and pharmaceutical industries use almost 60 per cent of the country's total energy consumption.
These latest initiatives to make Singapore 'greener' follow the launch this week of the first 'zero energy' building that produces as much power as it uses.
In his speech, he also praised Singaporeans for being actively involved in the community and for their efforts in keeping Singapore 'green'.
Many volunteers, he said, were helping out at the parks and nature reserves. Response to programmes such as the Community-in-Bloom gardening programme and the Plant-a-Tree programme have been very enthusiastic.
However, more need to be done. For one thing, the industry sector, a major energy consumer, needs to play its part too.
Mr Lee said he hoped the industry sector will support the new Energy Efficiency National Partnership programme strongly.
The Singapore plant of pharmaceutical company Pfizer is already showing interest in the initiative.
Its engineering services director for Asia Pacific, Mr Lee Chin Hoo, said the company has been consistently reducing its energy consumption by about 10 per cent every year.
They first started with the basic practice of getting employees to switch off lights when they were no longer in the room and controlling the aircon temperature. Today, Pfizer's Singapore plant is saving more than $1.4 million a year by chilling water using absorption chillers, which use steam, instead of energy-guzzling electric chillers.
- end of ST article |