Singapore ideal for innovations to tackle climate change

Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 19 Mar 08;

SINGAPORE is an ideal centre to produce the kind of radical innovation needed to ensure that greenhouse gases can be cut to combat climate change, without undermining economic growth.

That is the view of a visiting United States environmental and economics expert.

Global emissions shot up by about 40 per cent each year between 1990 and 2007, so radical technology breakthroughs are needed to stem this growth, said Dr Peter Englert, professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Currently, emissions reductions are difficult as most common technologies 'are close to the physical limit of energy efficiency', he said.

For countries to achieve a high level of innovation, a skilled and highly educated workforce with good research institutions, the availability of high-risk investment capital and a high quality of life is needed.

This makes Singapore an ideal centre for innovation with the 'necessary conditions', said Dr Englert at an Institute of Southeast Asian Studies seminar on climate change issues.

Singapore's recent move - announced in last month's Budget - to incentivise businesses with tax allowances and deductions for research and development is 'on the right track', he said.

But a mix of economic drivers, including further measures such as a carbon tax, will be needed to push companies towards radical innovation, he added.

Three areas that need technological breakthroughs are the energy, transportation and building industries, he said.

It has been estimated that if up to 70 per cent of new investment goes into radical innovation, the resulting economic growth will be 1.5 to three times that from normal innovation.