Why we are pushing for divestment from fossil fuel in fight against climate change

BRANDON CHEE, JERALD LIM, AND BERTRAND SEAH Today Online 1 Jan 19;

Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing recently spoke about how just as Singapore’s past 50 years have been defined by its successful water story, the next 50 will be defined by its ability to manage its energy challenges amidst the threat of climate change.

The special report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) contained stark warnings to drastically reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. In particular, it called for governments to fully decarbonise their economies as soon as possible, which necessitates transitioning from fossil fuels to cleaner forms of energy.

This is why we, a group of National University of Singapore students, have been campaigning for divestment from fossil fuels.

Our efforts have been targeted towards getting NUS, who invests a small percentage of its S$3.7 billion endowment in fossil fuels, to commit to full divestment by 2024.

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No more plastic straws with Yakult drinks

CYNTHIA CHOO Today Online 30 Dec 18;

SINGAPORE — Yakult Singapore will stop providing straws from the end of the year, the company said in a Facebook post on Thursday (Dec 27).

The announcement comes as a growing number of food and beverage manufacturers, restaurants and cafes around the world have joined the movement to cut down on the use of plastics.

Even entire cities have jumped on the bandwagon. Most recently, the authorities in Bali have enacted a ban on single-use plastics, including shopping bags, styrofoam food packets and straws.

In its post, Yakult Singapore said that it will be removing straws from two of its products — Yakult and Yakult Ace Light — “from end December 2018 onwards”, as part of efforts “in contributing to environment protection and sustainability”.

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