The Apec CEO Summit yesterday also focused on lingering concerns amid the economic recovery, such as climate change and the role of sovereign wealth funds.
Rachel Chang, Straits Times 15 Nov 09;
In the 1970s, California became the first American state to implement energy efficiency standards for refrigerators.
This was enforced despite concerns that manufacturers could not meet the standards and sell refrigerators at prices affordable for consumers.
Today, the average refrigerator in the United States is 10 per cent bigger, half as expensive, and uses two-thirds less energy than before.
The anecdote was cited by US Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke yesterday when he argued the need for governments to lead in the development of innovations in clean technology through regulations and investment.
Speaking as a panellist at the Apec CEO Summit on the theme, The Shape Of Things To Come, he noted that the telephone and computer were dismissed as unimportant when they first appeared.
'Who is to say we are not at that junction with clean energy?' he asked. 'If the government sets aggressive standards on clean energy, I have complete confidence in the human spirit, the entrepreneurial spirit to innovate and meet those standards.'
Exxon-Mobil chief executive and chairman Rex Tillerson said, however, that the development and deployment of clean energy technology would be a long and costly process - much longer than policymakers think.
'Policy has to be grounded in reality,' he said, arguing that the consequences of policies to curb emissions must be taken into account by officials.
Singapore Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said countries like Singapore could not make a huge difference on their own.
But what would help is for all governments to have the political will to take measures such as scrapping subsidies in place for fossil fuel use, he added.
The importance of joint action was highlighted by Mr Locke, who reminded the panel that 'Mother Earth will not care who has contributed to this, the industrial nations or the developing countries'.
Other issues raised as looming challenges for the future included the impact of an ageing population on economic growth, and protectionism.
Other panel members were Mr Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director of Indian conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra; Mr Peter Loescher, president and chief executive of mobile phone maker Siemens; and Mr Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.
Investing in the future: Unconventional wisdom
The Apec CEO Summit yesterday also focused on lingering concerns amid the economic recovery, such as climate change and the role of sovereign wealth funds.
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 15 Nov 09;
How's this for a 'politically incorrect' viewpoint?
A controversial climate expert declared yesterday at the Apec CEO summit that cutting carbon emissions is going to cost countries a lot but achieve fairly little good.
Dr Bjorn Lomborg, director of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, said smarter policies should be adopted to tackle global warming, not 'inordinately expensive' ones that will ultimately have little effect.
'By the end of the century, the cost of cutting emissions would be US$40 trillion (S$55 trillion), and we're not sure it will even work to reduce temperatures,' said Dr Lomborg in an interview with The Straits Times.
Instead, he suggested that countries focus on policies such as spending at least 0.2 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on clean energy research and development.
'The idea is to make clean energy so cheap that everyone will switch over from fossil fuels anyway. When that happens, maybe in the middle of the century, it will make sense to cut emissions. Now, that's a smart investment,' he said.
Dr Lomborg gained international attention in 2001 after publishing The Sceptical Environmentalist, a controversial book which asserts that many of the most-publicised claims and predictions on environmental issues are wrong.
He was among four panellists that spoke in a lively one-hour session yesterday.
The audience also debated the issue of geo-engineering with the panellists.
Geo-engineering is a way of manipulating the earth's climate artificially to counteract the effects of global warming.
While Dr Lomborg supported the idea of geo-engineering, such as marine cloud whitening to reflect more sunlight, others felt that it was a dangerous path to take due to the lack of documented research and understanding of the consequences.
