Singapore Says To Curb CO2, Steps Depend On U.N. Pact

David Fogarty, PlanetArk 10 Sep 09;

SINGAPORE - Wealthy Singapore, a global refining and manufacturing hub, will do more to curb its carbon emissions but additional steps depend on the shape of a broader pact to fight climate change, a top diplomat said on Tuesday.

The city state, covering less than 700 sq km, has a population of 4.5 million and one of the world's highest standards of living with per-capita GDP of $37,597 in 2008.

The country has become a focus for environmentalists who point to the nation's wealth and energy-intensive economy and say the government should adopt emissions targets.

Top climate change negotiator Chew Tai Soo said energy efficiency steps had significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions but that his country, through lack of space, was limited in its ability to switch to green energy, such as wind or solar.

The country was in many ways still a developing nation and would remain reliant on fossil fuels, he said, adding a recent German study saying Singapore's per-capita carbon dioxide emissions were among the world's highest was inaccurate.

"Small countries like Singapore or the Bahamas lack the alternative energy potential, or as I would call it, is alternative energy disadvantaged," he told Reuters as part of a global Climate Change and Alternative Energy summit.

But he said there was still much the country has done, and could do, to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.

Singapore, with power generation capacity of more than 10,000 megawatts, has switched to less polluting natural gas as the main fuel source for electricity, although some larger power stations still use a proportion of dirtier fuel oil.

Chew, a veteran diplomat, said the government would curb growth in numbers of vehicles by 2020, ensure the majority of commuters take public transport and test-bed electric vehicles.

EMISSIONS TRADING?

The present annual growth rate in the number of cars on Singapore's congested roads is 3 percent. "We're going to cut that down to 1.5 percent."

Asked how the government would achieve that, he said: "We'll do that. When we say we'll do something, we will do something."

Asked about additional steps, such as introducing domestic emissions trading and setting an emissions cap, he said: "We will be looking at it, we will be looking at all these instruments."

But he personally felt emissions trading was inappropriate for Singapore, given its size.

He said the government would not rule out any option as part of global negotiations on a broader replacement for the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol and that the government was developing a plan to consider additional steps to fight climate change.