Consumers should initiate activities from the ground to get companies to adopt sustainable practices, they say
Linette Lai, Straits Times 6 Jul 09;
IRKED by companies shying away from sustainable practices? Put pressure on them to change, experts advised at a conference held in Singapore yesterday.
Mr Sharad Somani, the director of global infrastructure and projects at KPMG, said: 'Essentially, consumers today - when they are aware of the real impact of their purchases - are forcing companies to be more sustainable.'
'Climate change is a fact of life today. Businesses cannot deny that,' he added.
He was speaking at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Sustainability Conference yesterday.
Other speakers made comparisons between Singapore and Denmark - both small, open economies with limited natural resources. The Scandinavian country has made significant headway in the area of alternative energy.
'From what I know, many of (Denmark's) initiatives are actually initiated from the ground,' said Dr Kua Harn Wei, assistant professor in the School of Design and Environment at the National University of Singapore.
'In Singapore, I am afraid we are not there yet...Government agencies are putting together a whole host of activities to get their district-level communities up to that mark. It's up to the people now to take the baton from there and initiate activities from within the community.'
A KPMG study last year identified six sectors - aviation, health care, tourism, transport, oil and gas, and financial services - as most at risk from climate change.
These risks ranged from regulatory risks to physical risks such as changes in weather conditions.
Companies are not putting in place sustainable practices because of 'a combination of two factors - inertia and inability to see the benefits in the long run', Mr Somani said.
Also present at the conference were representatives of Lend Lease and Senoko Power - two of a handful of companies here that have adopted sustainable practices.
Lend Lease is in charge of developing 313@Somerset in Orchard Road. The new shopping mall is designed to minimise the building's carbon footprint.
Lend Lease's commitment to sustainability includes a requirement that potential retailers have to undergo training courses in sustainable practices before taking up spots in the building.
The second firm, Senoko Power, has invested more than $600 million in new technologies to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Its president and chief executive Roy Adair acknowledged that the high costs of adopting sustainable practices can make doing business difficult. 'In order to get our foot in the door...we have to compete on price before we can offer our wares in terms of sustainability.'
'Some 65 per cent of the electricity load in Singapore is contestable, which means that those commercial concerns in industry have the right to choose who their retailer is,' Mr Adair added. 'Those decisions should not be made on price alone.'
