New NEA chief no 'tree-hugger'

Tania Tan, Straits Times 11 Jul 08;

THE National Environment Agency's (NEA) new chairman, by her own confession, 'is definitely not a tree-hugger'. But that, Ms Chew Gek Khim reckons, is her forte.

After all, she points out: 'I represent the average, educated Singaporean. How I relate to the environment is probably how the average Singaporean relates, too.'

Looking svelte in an orange cheongsam, the well-manicured Ms Chew, 46, is perhaps best positioned to drive home the green message not just to average Singaporeans, but to companies too.

The granddaughter of banking magnate Tan Chin Tuan, better known as Mr OCBC, is one of the corporate world's elite, and has a 'wealth of experience' working in the corporate sector, said NEA chief executive officer Lee Yuen Hee.

When she stepped up to the post of NEA chairman in April, she took with her an extensive network of business connections. And Mr Lee has high hopes that her influence will help drive the green message home to companies, especially for programmes like the NEA's Energy Efficiency Improvement Assistance Scheme, which co-funds companies' energy audits on their operations. Response has been tepid since it was launched in 2005.

The biggest challenge for the six-year-old agency, she feels, will be to address big companies' fears of hurting the bottom line by going green. But it must win them over, because these firms account for more than half of Singapore's energy usage, which in turn contributes to the country's carbon emissions.

As the straight-talking chairman, who is married and a lawyer by training, puts it: 'It's about finding balance and cutting down on things we don't need.'

To smaller companies, her message will be that going green does not mean getting into the red, and that energy efficiency can help improve their bottom line.

What Ms Chew has going in her favour is an urgent situation - rising oil and energy prices are starting to eat into profits.

She wants to put at the fore of people's minds that their actions - good, bad and ugly - will ultimately have an impact on themselves.

On her part, she has stopped double-bagging her groceries, and is considering switching to a hybrid car. As it is, she already takes short showers.

Any shorter 'and I think you'd start to mind', she quipped.

Ms Chew is currently a board member of several organisations, and deputy chairman of the philanthropic Tan Chin Tuan Foundation. She is also chief executive officer of global investment firm Tecity Group.