Record turnout at 3 green events with $30b of deals

24k people attend World Cities, CleanEnviro summits, S'pore International Water Week
Jose Hong Straits Times 21 Jul 18;

More than 24,000 people from 110 countries and regions descended on Marina Bay Sands for three sustainability events last week that resulted in almost $30 billion worth of projects, investments and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) being announced or signed.

The World Cities Summit, Singapore International Water Week and the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore saw global leaders, academics, scientists and business people discussing sustainability challenges, strategies and solutions.

The 24,000 people who attended the biennial gathering, held from July 8 to 12 and staged during the Year of Climate Action for Singapore, made it the largest on record. In 2016, there were 21,000 people.

Big names this year included former United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon and renowned US environmental microbiologist Rita Colwell.

The lion's share of the deals, about $23 billion, came during the Singapore International Water Week, including 18 World Bank water projects in East Asia and the Pacific worth $3.5 billion.

At the Special Asean Ministerial Meeting on Climate Action, a regional platform hosted by Singapore, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli launched the Climate Action Package, a range of Singapore-led programmes running until 2020 to help Asean nations tackle climate change.

The CleanEnviro Summit Singapore saw more than $5 billion in projects and business deals announced. The World Cities Summit attracted around 130 mayors and leaders from 128 cities for talks on how urban areas could be made more liveable and sustainable.

The World Bank and Singapore Land Authority signed an MOU to promote the greater use of geospatial information and technology to better optimise land resources, among other things. Geospatial information is data related to the position of things on the Earth's surface.

"The strong show of support from city leaders, industry experts and leading academics alike bear testament to the increasing prestige and appeal of the World Cities Summit as the leading international platform for urban sustainability conversations and innovations," said Mr Michael Koh, joint spokesman for all three sustainability events.