Energy Studies Institute to examine its effect on businesses, homes here
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 4 Jul 09;
A MAJOR study has begun to throw light on just what Singapore might look like in a carbon-priced world where concerns about climate change are finally being tackled.
The Energy Studies Institute (ESI) will examine issues surrounding caps on pollution and how carbon could be priced and how the new regime might affect businesses and households.
It will also examine the impact on the economy in the hypothetical event that Singapore is re-classified from a Non-Annex I to an Annex I country.
Under the current Kyoto Protocol deal which ends in 2012, Non-Annex I nations do not have to cut emissions but Annex I countries do.
'I think this is a step in the right direction, to get the ball rolling and
shed light on a few things that might happen in the future,' said ESI senior fellow Elspeth Thomson, who said the report will be due in November.
The issues around carbon pricing are concentrating minds across the world.
The global economy's failure to price carbon, largely regarded as the main culprit behind climate change, has been dubbed the 'greatest market failure the world has ever seen' by British economist Nicholas Stern.
But this looks set to change when world leaders meet in Copenhagen, Denmark in December to negotiate a global deal that will likely put a cap on pollution and a price on carbon.
The ESI report will be useful in this process, said Dr Thomson, who was speaking at a seminar yesterday on a recently launched report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on the economics of climate change in South-east Asia.
ADB assistant chief economist Zhuang Juzhong told the seminar that the region is highly vulnerable to climate change due to its densely populated coastal areas and reliance on climate-sensitive sectors.
The region could lose as much as 6.7 per cent of GDP annually by 2100, he said.
Although countries in the region have a range of mitigation strategies, these will not be enough and have to be stepped up.
Singapore has 'pretty advanced policies' and is leading the region in terms of energy efficiency, noted Dr Zhuang.
As the bulk of regional emissions comes from its neighbours, Singapore could help by strengthening cooperation on areas such as deforestation, which is a major source of pollution, he added.
Dr Zhuang said he hoped that the ADB report, which is funded by the British government, will be considered by key policymakers around the region.
The seminar, hosted by ESI and the ADB, was held at the Grand Hyatt and supported by the British High Commission, Singapore.
