Summits to Save the Planet: Organisers should walk the talk

Arti Mulchand, Straits Times 1 Jul 08;

SOME 8,500 policymakers, industry leaders, experts and trade visitors gathered in Singapore last week to discuss the world's water woes, the state of cities as well as sustainable ways of using the Earth's limited resources.

But even as attendees of the Singapore International Water Week, World Cities Summit and East Asia Summit Conference on Liveable Cities shared ideas and mooted solutions, they added to the problem itself.

Over the week, conference delegates emitted tonnes of carbon dioxide just getting here to attend the conferences and returning home. Little appeared to be in place to offset or minimise their carbon footprint.

To be fair, one of the organisers - managing director of Singapore Airshow and Events Jimmy Lau - pointed to 'little green plans': Badges for the water expo were recycled and drivers of cars for hosted delegates were told not to leave engines running while waiting.

Contractors were asked to try and reuse their materials. And there were token recycling bins around the Suntec City Convention Centre, where the summits were held.

But the devil, really, was in the details, and in the little gestures that could have been made, but were not.

The event used 39 conference rooms, a ballroom and five exhibition halls in Suntec City. Air-conditioning thermostats were set at an average of 23.5 deg C, according to organisers, lower than the National Environment Agency's recommended 25 deg C.

A physical check of some rooms showed that some thermostats clocked in at even lower temperatures.

Reams of paper were used to print documents, which could have been made available electronically instead. Many of those print- outs were not on recycled paper, and some were printed on just one side.

While canisters of water and glasses were made available in most rooms, plastic bottles of Newater were also given out at most of the events.

And while it would have been just as easy - and probably cheaper - to place milk jugs and sugar bowls beside coffee and tea dispensers, individual sachets were used.

Those were just the small things.

There was also no formal offsetting plan in place for things like energy use or travel for the more than 4,000 delegates who flew here, though a few said they had offset their flights on their own initiative.

When asked about it, Mr Chan Heng Kee, dean and chief executive of the Civil Service College - which co- organised the event - said there were some efforts to 'try and conserve'. But he did not think a formal plan was needed.

'Being sustainable does not mean you swing to the other end of the spectrum,' he said.

But this is not about being extreme. Numerous - particularly environmental - events have gone much further in ensuring that conference delegates do not further destroy the planet they seek to protect.

The inaugural Global Business Summit for the Environment, held here last year, followed some simple recommendations in the US-based Convention Industry Council's 2004 Green Meetings Report.

VIPs were picked up in taxis running on compressed natural gas, and bottled water, disposable straws, paper coasters and cup covers were not used.

All food and drinks served were organically, sustainably or locally farmed. Surplus pastries and dry food were donated to a local charity.

And in a grander gesture, $10,000 was donated towards reforestation and renewable energy projects.

Similarly, when leaders met in Bali for the United Nations climate change talks last December, Indonesia pledged to protect some 4,300ha of forests to offset the emissions of delegates travelling to and attending the 12 days of meetings.

Another tree-planting exercise is ongoing at the Sustainability Weeks in Hokkaido, Japan, where more than 30 symposiums and events are being held until July 11, with expected emissions of 330 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Perhaps, as one participant at the Singapore events put it, zooming in on 'symbolic gestures' may not be the right approach.

After all, much was accomplished over the week. Ideas that might go some way towards solving pressing water and urban development problems were shared.

Still, minimising waste does not take a Herculean effort. Offsetting, if nothing else, is an acknowledgement that everyday things have an impact on the planet's well-being. It is also a good short term means of channelling investment to green technology.

Singapore aspires to play a leadership role in the region's green cause. It is at such events that sustainable strategies can be first put into practice.

Through them the country can show that it really does walk the talk.