Esther Ng Today Online 19 Oct 10;
SINGAPORE - In the absence of a global agreement, Singapore will still take steps to implement energy-efficiency measures announced under the Sustainable Singapore Blueprint in April last year, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said in Parliament yesterday.
These include implementing minimum Green Mark standards for all new buildings in Singapore, Minimum Energy Performance Standards for household appliances by next year and the Energy Conservation Act by 2013.
Dr Yaacob was responding to Nominated Member of Parliament Viswa Sadasivan, who wanted to know whether Singapore was on track to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 16 per cent below Business-as-Usual levels by 2020.
Singapore had pledged to meet this target dependent on a legally-binding global agreement.
While Dr Yaacob did not think that a final legally-binding agreement would be reached by the Climate Change Conference later this year, he said the Government was studying measures to fulfil its pledge, even though the Republic's carbon emissions accounted for less than 0.2 per cent of global emissions.
It would focus its efforts on five sectors: Transport, buildings, households, industry and power generation.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions in each of these sectors would require the right pricing, financial incentives and regulations, said Dr Yaacob.
Giving an example of green measures which did not inflict a socio-economic cost on Singaporeans, Dr Yaacob said energy labelling had enabled Singaporeans to make informed choices and Singaporeans could reduce their footprint by using energy-efficient appliances.
He added that several agencies, such as the Housing and Development Board, have switched to energy-saving light bulbs.
