'If Singapore can't go green, who can?' : Lord Stern

Sheralyn Tay, Today Online 11 Apr 08;

All it takes for Singapore or any country to go green — with measures that make a real difference to climate change — is a one-off commitment of 1 to 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product.

It is an amount every economy already accepts as a variable, given rising oil prices or currency fluctuations, for example.

That is why arguments that pit business competitiveness against climate change mitigation are "blown out of proportion and are without empirical support", according to Lord Nicholas Stern (picture), author of the influential Stern Report on Climate Change, who is in town at the invitation of the civil service.

And Singapore is the country which can best prove the environment does not come at the expense of the economy, he said.

"Singapore has a way of getting things done, you've shown that, and we've all stood by and watched in amazement … If Singapore were to get to a low-carbon economy quickly, it would be a powerful example for the world. If you say you cannot, it would be discouraging because, if Singapore cannot do it, who can?" he said yesterday in a lecture at the Civil Service College as part of their Distinguished Visitors Programme.

But some audience members raised Singapore's size, lack of natural resources and emphasis on economic growth as challenges.

In January, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said no one should expect Asia to stump economic growth by reducing production at this high point of its development.

Lord Stern, who is with the London School of Economics, did not think these issues should impede a commitment to climate change mitigation, though.

Business competitiveness and reducing carbon emissions are not mutually exclusive, he said, as the opportunities from green technologies would eventually outweigh the initial costs.

"I don't think the special case argument stands for Singapore, comparative to other countries," he said and cited the Republic's edge — in terms of geographical location, economic status and high technology focus — to address the issues.

In any case, the issue should not be weighed using cost-benefit scales but looked at from a risk-based assessment, said Lord Stern, who asked if we could live with the risks of not making the hard decisions.

"Continued high carbon growth would eventually undermine itself," he said, referring to sea level rises and extreme weather conditions.

"We cannot turn it into a two-horse race (between the economy and the environment). If we do, both of them will lose."

Singapore can take lead in cutting carbon emissions
It can leverage on technology and efficiency to be role model: economist
Tania Tan & Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 11 Apr 08;

PLANET Earth is barrelling towards climate change faster than originally thought, an economist warned yesterday.

Lord Nicholas Stern, director of the Asia Research Centre at the London School of Economics, said previous estimates of the impact of climate change on global temperatures were 'very conservative', so efforts to adopt greener practices must be stepped up across the board now.

He said new evidence had surfaced to show that if the world continues to generate carbon dioxide as a result of large-scale industrial and commercial activities, global temperatures could climb by 5 deg C by 2050 - just 40 years away.

A change of 5 deg C will make a world of difference. The polar ice caps will melt, triggering widespread floods. Acres of crops - food - will be destroyed.

The last time Earth saw a temperature change of that magnitude, it was gripped in the Ice Age, he noted.

Lord Stern was delivering a lecture on the economic impact of climate change to about 100 people at the Civil Service College, as part of the college's Distinguished Visitors Programme yesterday.

He is known as the author of the Stern Report, a groundbreaking 2006 tome on the financial cost of climate change to the world economy.

His poser to the audience yesterday: 'So what is the world to do?'

The short answer: Each individual must 'reduce his carbon footprint'.

This means to say everyone has to cut back on the amount of carbon his activities - including using cars and flying on aeroplanes - pump into the Earth's atmosphere.

But cut back by how much?

Lord Stern said each individual now produces an average of 7 tonnes of carbon a year. This number must come down to 2.5 tonnes by 2050 to help mitigate the effects of climate change.

It will be a daunting task, considering each American produces 25 tonnes of carbon a year, twice that of Europeans. Singaporeans produce about 10 tonnes annually.

Lord Stern said: 'It's an ambitious target, given where we are starting from, but it's the bare minimum we must do.'

With most of the world's population living in Asia, the pressure is on to cut gas emissions in this region, he added.

Singapore must make a 'stronger commitment' to help its neighbours combat climate change, he said.

Challenging the view that Singapore is too small to make a difference in the world, he urged policy makers here to take the lead in cutting carbon emissions.

Leveraging on its technology and efficiency, he said, Singapore could be a model for a successful balance between going green and achieving economic progress.

'If you say it can't be done, it would be very disheartening,' he said. 'People would say, if Singapore cannot achieve it, who can?'

Ms Kavita Gandhi, executive director of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore, which counts solar energy firms among its 70 members, said the talk was an eye-opener but she had hoped for more.

She said: 'I would have liked to hear more about what could be done to implement subsidies, because that is what most companies which are in the solar business are interested in.'