Vote for Orchard Road's best dustbin design

Electric New Paper 4 Dec 07;

CHANGING the image of a 'fine city' while passing on the message of saving the environment.

And what better way to do it than to have 'happy, attractive dustbins' that will encourage people to use them.

That is the aim of a group of youths who spent yesterday painting the dustbins.

A total of 88 cheery dustbins would be placed along Orchard Road for the public to vote for the best design.

The dustbins, provided by the National Environment Agency, will be placed from the Orchard/Scotts Road junction to Le Meridien Orchard for three months.

Supported by the Singapore Press Holdings and Paragon Shopping Centre, the event is organised by an informal group of youth leaders comprising polytechnic, university as well as national servicemen.

Called Creative Home, the project is led by Temasek Polytechnic's hospitality and tourism student, Faris Abdulkadir Basharahil.

Referring to the image of Singapore as a country known for its fines for littering, the 19-year-old said: 'We hope to soften the image of a 'fine city' by encouraging the happy use of dustbins when they see attractive artwork on them.

'We believe that a soft and cheerful approach in encouraging people to keep Singapore clean, and to cultivate a sense of ownership and care towards the city, would go down better with the public.

'It may be easy to paint a dustbin, but to turn it into a work of art and a vehicle to promote social change would be something challenging and refreshing.'

And using art as a tool for a social message was what Raffles Junior College student Ng Jia Hui did best.

Calling her piece 'embrace the new, remember the old', the 18-year-old said her aim was 'to create an awareness of the importance of the environment'.

Mr Poh Sze Ying, 20, and a maths undergraduate at NTU, was keen on using traffic lights as his symbols.

Called 'Daisy Traffic Light', the idea of the green lights signalling the go-ahead was his way of 'sending the go green' message.

To vote for your favourite dustbin, you can go to SPH social networking portals www.stomp.com.sg or www.omy.sg from 15 Dec to 15 Feb.

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People power in climate change: making a difference

People power the way to go
By Thomas L. Friedman, New York Time, Straits Times 4 Dec 07;

I love their tag line. It's what gives me hope: 'We are the people we have been waiting for.'

IT WAS 15 deg C last Thursday in Washington, well above normal for this time of the year, and as I slipped away for some pre-Christmas golf, I found myself thinking of a wickedly funny story that The Onion, the satirical newspaper, ran the other day: Fall Cancelled After Three Billion Seasons.

'Fall, the long-running series of shorter days and cooler nights, was cancelled earlier this week after nearly three billion seasons on earth, sources reported Tuesday.

'The classic period of the year, which once occupied a coveted slot between summer and winter, will be replaced by new, stifling humidity levels, near-constant sunshine and almost no precipitation for months.

' 'As much as we'd like to see it stay, fall will not be returning for another season,' said National Weather Service president John Hayes during a muggy press conference. 'Fall had a great run, but sadly, times have changed.'

'The cancellation was not without its share of warning signs. In recent years, fall had been reduced from three months to a meagre two-week stint, and its scheduled start time had been pushed back later and later each year.'

You should never extrapolate about global warming from your own weather, but it is becoming hard not to.

Consider the final report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was just issued and has had far too little attention. It concluded that since the IPCC began its study five years ago, scientists have discovered much stronger climate-change trends than previously realised, like far more extensive melting of Arctic ice, and so global efforts to reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions have to begin immediately.

'What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future,' said IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri.

And sweet-sounding 'global warming' doesn't really capture what's likely to happen. I prefer 'global weirding', coined by Mr Hunter Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, because the rise in average global temperature is going to lead to all sorts of crazy things - from hotter heat spells and droughts in some places, to colder cold spells and more violent storms, more intense flooding, forest fires and species loss in other places.

While the Bush team will leave office with a perfect record of having done nothing significant to mitigate climate change, I'm heartened that America is increasingly alive on this challenge.

First, Google said last week it was going to invest millions in developing its own energy business. Google described its goal as 'RE

Its focus, said Google.org's energy expert Dan Reicher, will be to advance new solar thermal, geothermal and wind solutions 'across the valley of death'. That is, so many good ideas work in the lab but never get a chance to scale up because they are swallowed by a lack of financing or difficulties in implementation. Do not underestimate these people.

Last week, I met two groups of MIT students who blew me away. One was the MIT Energy Club, founded in 2004 by a few graduate students discussing energy over beer at a campus bar. Today it has 600-plus members who have put on scores of events focused on building energy expertise among MIT students and faculty, and 'fact-based analysis', including a trip to Saudi Arabia.

Then I got together with three engineering undergraduates who helped launch the Vehicle Design Summit - a global, open-source collaborative effort managed by MIT students that has 25 college teams worldwide working together to build a plug-in electric hybrid within three years.

Each team contributes a different set of parts or designs. I thought writing for my college newspaper was cool. These kids are building a hyper-efficient car which, they hope, 'will demonstrate a 95 per cent reduction in embodied energy, materials and toxicity from cradle to grave' and provide '200 mpg energy equivalency or better'. The Linux of cars!

They're not waiting for GM. Their goal, they explain on their website - vds.mit.edu - is 'to identify the key characteristics of events like the race to the moon and then transpose this energy, passion, focus and urgency' on catalysing a global team to build a clean car.

I love their tag line. It's what gives me hope: 'We are the people we have been waiting for.'

THE NEW YORK TIMES

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Singapore social enterprise: When business and welfare mix

Straits Times 4 Dec 07;

Social enterprises can be for-profit companies with a social mission or welfare agencies with separate business arms designed to generate money in support of their programmes. Arlina Arshad looks at two such ventures

Gaming cafe offers after-school care

THREE years ago, Mr Anderson Tan, 34, opened a cafe where children could hang out and study at after school.

The venture prospered until two gaming centres sprouted up nearby and drove it out of business.

Mr Tan, principal education planner for EduPaths, which provides leadership and life skills to primary school to junior college students, resisted joining the shootem'up bandwagon.

Gaming centres, in general, have bad reputations and may have a negative influence on children, he felt.

But his stance changed one day when a father asked for help installing a video game in a bid to better understand his child.

'After the talk, there was a shift in mindset. If I wanted to reach out to youths at risk, then I must be able to speak their lingo,' said Mr Tan.

So, he introduced the gaming component at the Fun and Educational Cafe in Tampines in March last year. The venture's two void deck shop units have sealed-off classrooms for training, alongside gaming computers.

The concept of marrying an education centre, a cafe and gaming centre was so popular that three more branches have been opened in Potong Pasir, Bedok and Redhill since then.

The for-profit centres get 200 to 300 customers daily, from children to young adults.

Mr Tan said: 'I must know what they like. I can provide games too but in a measured environment.'

He does not get any government funding. Revenue comes from course fees and computer use, which is $2 an hour.

He said he wanted a safe place for youths to hang out at after school, without them milling around the mall.

He said: 'It's not like gaming centres people expect. Here, I can befriend the kids, and counsel those who need advice.'

Consultancy services bring in $130,000

IT WAS getting tougher and tougher to raise money the charity needed from grants and donations.

So, a group of volunteers from the non-profit Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme - or RSVP - hit on the idea of offering their skills.

As former company chief executives, business development directors and strategic planners, they had a wealth of experience to offer.

Said Mr Nat Natarajan, RSVP board member and ProGuide chairman: 'These are people with years of professional expertise, and they could use that knowledge to help others.'

So ProGuide was formed in 2004 as the social enterprise arm of RSVP.

The profit goes back to RSVP to run its own research projects, IT courses and programmes for seniors, mentoring schemes for latchkey children, and rehabilitation and job placements for former mentally-disadvantaged patients.

Currently, it has about 50 RSVP volunteers who regularly offer consultancy services, which include IT, marketing and business advice, to other voluntary welfare organisations which need some help.

According to Mr Natarajan, they charge about what a competing small- or medium-sized company would charge.

For instance, in the last three years, about a dozen welfare organisations had engaged them in projects - each of which cost $15,000 to $35,000.

As a bonus, ProGuide offers a free review of the client's current working system, and even helps list recommendations on how the welfare organisation can be more efficient.

All, but one VWO, engaged ProGuide on a paying basis - evidence that their services were up to par and valuable, said Mr Natarajan with a smile. The one VWO just used their free review.

He reckons that ProGuide makes an average of about $130,000 in gross income a year. At least half of it would go to supporting its programmes.

Mr Natarajan said despite being a social enterprise, the business is run professionally - volunteers will stick to schedules and will come in on time.

And this, he hoped, would help RSVP wean itself off government grants and become self-funding in a few years.

The biggest challenge? Getting the ex-directors and CEOs to work together as team players.

'Once we sort out the egos, the wealth of experience is very valuable. Plus, we have found that they are all professional. Once a boss is appointed, they will all listen to him or her.'

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Key proposals unveiled to stimulate social entrepreneurship

Funding extended to 2 years, profit sharing after a specified period
Lynette Khoo,
Business Times 4 Dec 07;

(SINGAPORE) The Social Enterprise (SE) Committee chaired by Spring Singapore chairman Philip Yeo released a set of recommendations yesterday, which if adopted, will see the current government funding for social enterprises extended from one year to two years, and enable profit sharing after a specified time period.

The Comcare Enterprise Fund (CEF) under the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS) provides seed funding to social enterprise start-ups with up to 80 per cent of the capital spending and one year's operating costs, capped at $300,000. The average funding is between $100,000 and $150,000 for each successful application.

The SE Committee proposed an extension of the funding period to two years as it recognises that SEs need time to establish and mature as businesses.

To encourage business-savvy entrepreneurs to set up, run and invest in SEs, the SE Committee recommended that CEF-funded enterprises be allowed to take profit after four to five years, while keeping its commitment to a social purpose.

The SE Committee was formed in August last year to find ways to invigorate the local SE sector and came up with a set of recommendations which it released in a report yesterday.

Unlike charities that depend on public funds, SEs are self-reliant revenue-generating businesses that meet social needs. They could be small, medium or large businesses, privately owned cooperatives or business arms of charities.

The number of active SEs in Singapore is estimated to be 150, of which 60 per cent are set up by non-profit or voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs). Sixty-six SEs are funded by the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports and 46 of them are still active. These are small businesses with an average annual revenue of less than $100,000.

'The underlying work is really how to create economic opportunities and jobs for the needy and disadvantaged,' Mr Yeo said at a briefing yesterday. 'It is to give the needy and disadvantaged a permanent employment for income so that they can be independent.'

Mr Yeo noted that some start-ups have the social passion but lack a viable business model. To provide business support and training to new SEs, the SE Committee proposed the formation of a Social Enterprise Association and a Social Enterprise Development Centre (SEDC).

Through the association, SEs can pool resources, network and collaborate to promote the SE sector while the SEDC increases access to services and builds capability. The proposed capability development fund is estimated to cost $500,000 a year.

A key recommendation of the SE Committee is also to encourage diversified sources of funding beyond grants, from private companies, venture capitalists and banks.

With the charity dollar harder to come by these days, VWOs and charities that set up SEs can reduce their dependency on public funds. But NKF chairman Gerald Ee noted that there has not been many success stories seen over the past few years as these organisations lack business expertise.

'While we encourage VWOs and charities to consider this path, we have to also tell them that they need to have a viable business model,' he added.

This is where the SEDC can fill up the gap for consultancy and training and Mr Ee said that he believed that over time, there will be more than one such centre set up to meet such needs.

Besides stimulating the social enterprises, the Committee is also encouraging commercial companies to become socially responsible enterprises (SRE) by employing needy and disadvantaged workers, and modifying the workplace, job or work systems to accommodate and integrate them.

To encourage SREs, the SE Committee is proposing a Caring Companies Initiative with an annual fund of $1 million to help cushion the costs of training, job redesign and integration programmes that companies incur when hiring disadvantaged workers.

The SE Committee also proposed that the Caring Companies Initiative give out high profile awards to recognise employers who have hired a significant number of disadvantaged workers and helped them to be financially independent through training.

These recommendations are being reviewed by the government and its decisions will be announced in March 2008.

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Energy conservation - do away with suits and ties

Letter from Francis Wong Tai Yin, Straits Times Forum 4 Dec 07;

DESPITE numerous articles and discussions regarding the low temperature setting of air-conditioners in Singapore, we still observe waste of such energy.

Last week, at the opening event of the Energex 2007 conference in Suntec, various distinguished speakers highlighted the point of energy conservation. It was ironical that the room in which the participants were gathered was uncomfortably cold.

While I am sure that the National Environment Agency is trying to educate (why not enforce?) those in building and facilities management roles, I feel that changes are not happening fast enough. This issue is not new as Minister Lim Swee Say's inspiring speech on April 28, 2001, at an American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (Singapore Chapter) event already highlighted this challenge.

Perhaps the reluctance to change stems from the fact that Singapore has adopted the Western dress-code (for men) of the tie and long-sleeved shirt. Is this practical for our climate?

I have not met a single person who was unhappy to remove his tie when the opportunity arose. Because we, in Singapore, have set a social decorum on 'business' dress-code, on top of the culture of 'giving face', we have created an impractical fashion in business.

It could be that the air-cons are set so cold to accommodate those in ties (and suits). Well, that looks like a problem that could be solved.

Boldly, I suggest two possibilities:

1. The Singapore Government sets a rule that it is absolutely acceptable if participants of their meetings (with vendors, corporate companies, international visitors and also internal) need only dress smart (that is, neat). Do away with ties and long-sleeved shirts, and I'm sure that the private commercial organisations will follow. Essentially, donning a suit and tie is voluntary, and at the wearer's own risk of discomfort. Is this too radical? Check out the Japanese government which introduced the 'no tie' summer look, breaking decades of tradition. They have removed the fear of 'not giving face'.

2. Create a new Singapore business dress-code. Each time I travel to the Philippines, I am always impressed with how the barong shirt is accepted as business attire. Yes, we have the batik shirt - but how many of us truly accept this as normal day-to-day business wear?

If we dress right, we eliminate another reason for setting low air-con temperatures unnecessarily. Coupled with the increased awareness and education programmes regarding energy conservation, I believe that Singapore will be seen as a nation that 'walks the talk'.

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Who pays the bill for a clean, green world?

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller, Today Online 4 Dec 07;

IT could be one of the most pitiless brawls about global burden-sharing since the advent of globalisation in the late '40s.

At its heart is the question of who is going to fund the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions — a topic now on the agenda for a host of meetings to find a replacement or amended extension to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The Kyoto protocol was forged in the mould of yesterday's world — one dominated by the nation-state. Quotas were specified for countries, accompanied by a mechanism that allowed them to trade certificates. In principle, this should have led to higher efficiency, as those who were able to pay could buy quotas from countries that did not require them.

The reality was that rich countries had capital, while poor and newly industrialised countries did not. The result — established producers purchased certificates to 'monopolise' production, crowding out potential competitors in less-developed countries.

This is probably why countries such as China argue that rich nation-states, having enjoyed a free ride in their industrialisation process many years ago, should now bear the burden of halting and hopefully reversing climate change.

Many industrialised nation-states may not necessarily reject that argument, but are cool towards the second proposition — that they assume the lion's share of the burden in addressing climate change. They maintain that while they may have been polluting in their rise to power, the environment was not the problem it is today.

The current dispute seems to overlook an analogous debate when environmental policies took off in some industrialised countries in the '60s and '70s.

Then, consumers and industry were at each other's throats, trying to pass the burden around in the hopes it would lead to a stalemate, so everybody could be let off cheaply in the short term.

The Gordian knot was cut — more or less — by the Polluter Pays Principle, which stated that the ultimate polluter was the consumer. The result was a number of taxes and levies designed to be passed to the ultimate polluter. Many industrialised countries have water levies, taxes on solid waste and petrol taxes.

And apparently, it has worked.

A dramatic improvement in environmental standards and energy efficiency has occurred in countries such as Japan and many European countries. This improvement can only be ascribed to the change in price structure — one that penalises polluters and rewards more environmentally friendly goods or production processes, mainly by way of levies and subsidies.

This hard-won experience teaches that one can only go some way with declarations and regulation. In the final analysis, what matters is to make the ultimate polluter feel the pinch.

As long as the discussion revolves around quotas or regulations allocated to nation-states, the chance for an effective agreement is remote. The circus of accusations and counter-accusations is likely to continue. Having committed themselves so clearly to incompatible policies, it is almost inconceivable that many countries will have a change of heart on how to engender positive climate change.

A seismic policy shift is needed before the impending environmental crisis can be addressed. Negotiations have to target the ultimate polluter: The consumer. This will make it clear that it is not the producer in China, the United States, Europe or Singapore that is ultimately responsible, but the consumer, wherever he or she is.

Such a policy would also be consistent with globalisation. Outsourcing from the US or Europe to China would cause Chinese emission levels to rise. With a system based on national quotas, China would have to "pay" more. But this makes no sense.

A national quota model places newly industrialising countries between the devil and the deep blue sea. Either they absorb the cost, they risk that rich countries will move towards a "coalition of the willing" ready to impose levies. And if newly industralising countries try to pass on the cost to the consumer by increasing prices, they might undermine their own competitiveness.

All three options appear problematic — hence the call to develop an agreement that allows costs to be passed to the ultimate polluter/emitter, in such a way that does not distort competitive advantages and influence relative production costs.

If such a road is not found, two rather unpalatable outcomes may haunt the global economy.

The first is a complete breakdown, leaving an international agreement on climate change hanging. The second is a mix of political compromises that will probably force a cost increase on rising nation-states, introducing global inflation as those states increase their export prices. That would be the last thing the world needs now, what with high oil prices, a sub-prime crisis and falling growth in the US.

We should not forget that cheap production from countries like China has kept global inflation low for the last 15 years. If global inflation starts to rise now, the world economy is likely to jump from the frying pan into the fire.

The writer is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, and an Adjunct Professor at the Copenhagen Business School. The full version of this commentary is at www.opinionasia.com.

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Proposal to pay poor countries to save forests moving ahead

A decision on the initial phases of action could come soon
Arti Mulchand, Straits Times 4 Dec 07;

BALI - A DECISION on a proposal from developing countries to be paid to protect their forests could come soon.

Representatives of the more than 190 countries at the climate change talks were yesterday urged to reach an agreement on the initial phases of action before ministers arrive in Bali next week.

UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said pilot projects and payment systems should be taken up, and representatives should also decide on a method to measure avoided emissions.

Negotiations on these issues have been going on for a while.

The Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation plan was initiated by Indonesia and is backed by developing countries with the largest remaining tropical forests, including Brazil and Malaysia.

Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, who is presiding over the talks, said: 'It is vital not just that we take action now, but also that this issue forms a central element of the future climate regime.'

Reaching agreement on issues like this before top ministers arrive would also 'free up negotiating space needed for the post-2012 process', said Mr de Boer, who is the United Nations Framework Convention executive secretary.

The meetings in Bali are aimed at jump-starting talks to find a successor to the emissions-curbing Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012.

Deforestation accounts for almost a fifth of all global carbon dioxide (C02) emissions and is the leading cause of biodiversity loss. Forests are also carbon sinks as they soak up CO2 and temporarily store the carbon. Hence, getting deforestation under control is central to combating climate change.

That is particularly important for Indonesia, where deforestation accounts for about two-thirds of its greenhouse gas emissions, making it the world's third largest CO2 polluter.

Indonesia is, in fact, the world's fastest forest destroyer. Between 2000 and 2005, an area of forest equivalent to 300 soccer pitches was destroyed every hour.

Jakarta's clearing of forests has other environmental implications: The slash-and-burn technique of land-clearing causes the annual haze that has the region - and its economies - in a chokehold.

The current problem is that the forests have no 'value', Indonesia's delegation head, economist and former minister Emil Salim, said at a media briefing here yesterday. It is the reason why forests get cleared for agriculture and ravaged by loggers, he said.

Still, sceptics question the degree of success that a country such as Indonesia, where illegal logging and land-clearing fires are rampant, can achieve.

It is also not clear just how the burden of paying to protect forests should be shared by developed countries. Monitoring mechanisms will also need to be worked out.

But Mr Witoelar believes that the 'carrot-and-stick' approach of paying for forests will work to help solve Indonesia's problem of illegal logging, even as the country tries to put in place more 'pertinent and actual' laws and create incentives for alternative livelihoods.

'It is a matter of survival,' he said.

Climate talks Quickly
Straits Times 4 Dec 07;

TREES PLANTED TO SOAK UP CO2

BALI: Indonesia has planted millions of trees to soak up an estimated 50,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases to be emitted during UN-led climate talks in Bali, Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said yesterday.

Pines, acacia and meranti trees, a type of tropical hardwood, have been planted on about 4,500ha on the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Java, Mr Witoelar said.

Trees absorb carbon as they grow, and those planted would eventually soak up about 900,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, far more than the emissions caused by conference delegates while staying in Bali and flying to and from the island, he said.

More than 10,000 politicians, officials, activists and journalists are attending the climate talks on the tropical resort island.

'The government of Indonesia is dedicating the carbon stock of the trees to offset the emissions produced by the UN meeting,' Mr Witoelar told a news conference.

'Apart from offsetting emissions, we would like to make this a carbon positive event,' he said.

REUTERS

A TUNE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

BALI: A song aimed at motivating people to work together to tackle climate change was launched at the Bali climate change conference yesterday.

The song Dunia Berbagilah (World, Let's Share Together), written by Indonesian musician Nugie, was jointly launched by Indonesian Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, the newly elected conference president, and Oxfam's Ari Margiono.

It was performed by the United Voices of Indonesia, a group of 50 singers and musicians from the country, according to anti-poverty group Oxfam's website.

XINHUA

SOW SEEDS FOR BETTER OR WORSE

JAKARTA: Couples wanting to get married or divorced now have to spare a bit of love for the earth under a compulsory tree-planting campaign in one Indonesian district, a report said yesterday.

People planning to marry in Sragen district, on the main Indonesian island of Java, must contribute to the planting of five tree seedlings, district head Untung Wiyono was reported as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.

They are required to hand over their own seedlings, or 25,000 rupiah (S$3.90) to buy some, to whoever officiates at their marriage.

Couples who are looking to divorce must donate 25 tree seedlings, or hand over 40,000 rupiah.

The seeds, of hardwood trees such as teak or mahogany, are handed to the government to be planted, Mr Wiyono reportedly said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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Investors seen as key in averting climate change

Business Times 4 Dec 07;

(BALI) Climate talks launched in Bali yesterday must assure investors of future government backing for climate-friendly energy and building projects, said the host of the meeting, Indonesia's Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar.

The talks, attended by some 190 countries, will try and lay the foundations for a new climate change deal in time to replace or extend the Kyoto Protocol from 2013. A key challenge will be to entice business to invest in cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for climate change.

Investment is needed, for example, to re-direct the world's energy supply away from high carbon-emitting fossil fuels to cleaner sources. But that requires a new policy regime of carrots and sticks.

'The market is a key part of our effort against climate change,' Mr Witoelar told the opening session of the two-week conference. 'The market demands the certainty and predictability we need to offer them. We need to enhance our investments in technology. There are clean technologies available. There's lots of best practice.'

Governments hope the Bali talks will set the platform for agreement by 2009 on specific climate targets or policies, country by country, to succeed existing Kyoto Protocol commitments, which are considered too weak.

For example Kyoto created a carbon market that last year directed US$5 billion of investment into cutting greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries. That compares with a needed US$200 billion invested annually by 2030, nearly half of that in developing countries, according to a United Nations report published in October.

'There are potential solutions on the scale needed, but they require international negotiation,' the UN report's lead author, Erik Haites, told a side event in Bali yesterday.

For example, Kyoto only runs until 2012, but investors in big energy projects need to plan returns over 20 years.

Government officials in Bali agreed that clean energy investment was key to the fight against climate change.

'We need to accelerate... technologies that can fundamentally alter (how) we use energy,' US delegation head Harlan Watson said, citing biofuels, renewable power and technology to bury greenhouse gases underground.

The private sector must supply 86 per cent of the investment needed to help adapt to global warming and cut emissions, the UN report said. - Reuters

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Singapore Business Federation to launch clean energy directory next year

Inaugural survey of industry will list a few hundred Singapore-based firms
Matthew Phan, Business Times 4 Dec 07;

THE Singapore Business Federation (SBF) will release the first directory listing of clean energy-related companies in Singapore in the first half of 2008, along with an inaugural survey of the industry.

The directory will be 'comprehensive', and already includes the names of a few hundred Singapore-based firms, according to its director of industry development Patrick Chan in an interview.

But most of these play 'secondary' or supporting roles to the industry, such as in consultancy, financing and research, or logistics and manufacturing of components, he said.

'As far as primary companies are concerned, while we have attracted the likes of REC and Vestas, there are not many locally originated companies in this area,' said Mr Chan.

'Primary' vendors comprise seven of the directory's 15 sub-groupings.

The seven primary sub-groupings range from renewable energy providers (like solar, wind or fuel cells), to carbon trading, energy efficiency, power generation, environmental management and conservation, and other sectors like agriculture.

Another eight sub-groupings play 'secondary' or supporting roles. They include brand names like market research firms Frost & Sullivan, which now have separate divisions for clean energy, oil majors like Shell, BP and ExxonMobil, as well as accounting firms KPMG, PwC and GrantThorton, which are looking at carbon and energy audits.

In comparison, local firms are still very much at the awareness and learning stage, said Mr Chan.

But this has benefited consultancies and research organisations, as firms try to find out more by joining conferences, informal sessions or exhibitions, he said.

Project managers and financiers - of whom many major players have based regional operations in Singapore - have also grown thanks to activity in other South-east Asian countries.

It could be another 1 to 2 years before Singapore firms play a substantial role in clean energy, either as primary vendors or buyers, said Mr Chan.

Meanwhile, the industry survey - which has obtained responses from at least 60 firms so far and is due to release preliminary results in Jan 2008 - will shed light on the state of the industry and clarify issues and future potential.

The SBF includes Clean Energy as one of its three major industry sectors, along with Franchising and Infocomm Technology.

It was added only this year, after the government said in March that it would commit $350 million to research funding for the sector, said Mr Chan.

The Economic Development Board estimates the sector will add over $1.7 billion in value and employ over 12,000 professionals by 2012.

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Singapore as water technology hub

Business Times 4 Dec 07;

SINGAPORE'S efforts to become a hub of water technologies will be boosted by three new events this week.

PUB, the national water agency, will sign tomorrow a memorandum of understanding with Toray, an established membrane supplier in Japan, to collaborate on water research and development projects.

The other two events are a water safety workshop in Singapore which will be attended by 13 representatives from Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos, and Singapore's participation in the inaugural Asia Pacific Water Summit in Beppu, Japan.

Professor Tommy Koh, chairman of the Governing Council of Asia Pacific Water Forum, will be sharing the group's achievements at this summit.

A PUB press statement yesterday said the MOU between PUB and Toray is aimed at finding water solutions through R&D activities, test bedding and early adoption of new technologies.

The first project - jointly developed by PUB, Toray and the National Water Research Institute, a top US-based research organisation - will focus on the use of nano-porous materials in membranes. The objective is to produce and test mixed matrix membranes for water purification.

On the three-day water safety workshop, PUB says this is the first workshop under the WHO-Singapore partnership agreement signed in August this year to jointly promote the safe management of drinking water.

Terrence Thompson, regional adviser (Environmental Health) from WHO's Western Pacific Regional Office, said: 'Singapore is one of the few Asian countries where you can drink water directly from the taps. That achievement is a role model and an inspiration for other countries which are struggling with the issue of safe drinking water. Singapore, with its strength in safe water management, can contribute significantly to our cause in promoting the protection of water.'

The Asia Pacific Water Summit is the first summit on water in Asia that will be attended by heads of government and ministers from Asia-Pacific. It aims to seek commitment from the region's leaders to place more importance on water in their national development agendas.

One highlight is the launch of the Asian Water Development Outlook 2007. Commissioned by Asian Development Bank and prepared by leading experts on water from the region, the report identifies nine areas of concern from water pollution to urbanisation and climate change.

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Carbon trading 'key to stopping deforestation'

Paul Eccleston, Telegraph 3 Dec 07;

Carbon trading could be the key to stopping the destruction of the rainforests, a new report claims.

In the past deforestation has been driven by the belief that a forest was worth more dead than alive.

But new research shows that the forests have the potential to earn substantially more from carbon offsetting if they are left intact.

Research for the Partnership for Tropical Forest Margins showed that forests torn down to make way for agriculture earned between $1-$5 per ton of carbon they released.

But traders in the emerging European carbon market were currently paying up to five times that amount - $35 - for an offset tied to a one-ton reduction in carbon.

The new research, issued to coincide with the Bali climate summit, said the comparison was important because industries in developed countries were looking to spend billions of dollars on carbon credits to meet new requirements for curbing greenhouse gases.
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The study examined the money made from deforestation over the last 10-20 years in areas of Southeast Asia, Central Africa and the Amazon Basin which was mostly driven by the desire for farm land or timber.

Brent Swallow, leader of the study and Global Coordinator of the Partnership for Tropical Forest Margins, said: "Deforestation is almost always driven by a rational response to what the market values and for some time now, it has just made more financial sense to many people in forested areas to cut down the trees.

"What we discovered is that returns for deforestation are generally so paltry that if farmers and other land users were rewarded for the carbon stored in their trees and forests, it is highly likely that a large amount of deforestation and carbon emissions would be prevented."

Halting deforestation, responsible for 20 per cent of the world's CO2 emissions, is high on the agenda at Bali.

Confusion over how to value and monitor the large amounts of carbon stored in tropical forests has so far prevented forests being included in the carbon offset market.

Meine van Noordwijk, Southeast Asia Regional Coordinator of the World Agroforestry Centre, said: "We understand that allowing people in forested regions of developing countries to participate in carbon markets presents major challenges, but it's naive to think that conservation is going to occur absent a market incentive.

"Everyone has a stake in finding a way to make it work because it's hard to see how any global effort to combat climate change will succeed if it ignores a major source of the problem."

The study examined the trade-offs between carbon and financial returns in three areas in Indonesia, and one area each in Peru and Cameroon, all of which have undergone extensive deforestation.

They found that in most instances at the sites in Indonesia, deforestation returned less than $5 per ton of carbon released and in some areas, less than $1. In forested areas rich in peat, which is particularly efficient at trapping carbon, the figure was about $0.10 to $0.20 per ton.

An analysis of deforestation in the Amazonian forests of the Ucayali Province of Peru produced similar results. Most of the deforestation, which was mainly driven by a desire for crop land, generated less than US $5 per ton of carbon released.

The Cameroon study sites produced a better return. Deforestation returns about US $11 per ton of carbon emissions, which was mainly due to an increase in secondary forest and the fact that in Cameroon, cocoa production-which elsewhere has decimated tropical forests-has tended to occur within forests, and resulted in more in forest degradation than outright deforestation.

The study claimed that paying for the preservation of the rainforests not only encouraged conservation but could also help recoup some of the carbon already lost to deforestation through sustainable agriculture.

Dennis Garrity, Director General of the Nairobi, Kenya-based World Agroforestry Centre said that, "Not only does agroforestry have the potential to store carbon, it also addresses the need for alternative livelihoods amongst populations who currently benefit from deforestation."

The report said that establishing a forest-based carbon market would be complicated.

Frances Seymour, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) based in Indonesia, said: "The challenge will be to ensure that payments for maintaining forests actually reach local people, and do not end up in the wrong pockets.

"For the system to be effective, we will need new mechanisms for allocating payments that are efficient as well as fair."

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Time to stop the climate blame game

Malini Mehra, BBC News 3 Dec 07;

As a key UN climate change conference gets underway in Bali, Malini Mehra says the current global political system is "abysmally unfit for purpose". In this week's Green Room, she calls for nations to stop playing the blame game, and work together to deliver a low carbon global economy.

Representatives from more than 180 nations have gathered in Bali to begin discussions towards a new global deal on climate change.

The odds could not be higher - climate change is a challenge of civilisational dimensions.

Scientists have coined a term for our new age - they call it the "anthropocene" because human interference with planetary systems is affecting the very life-support systems we depend upon.

They warn that we may be the last generation to live in an age of climate stability, and that we are now entering an era outside human experience.

Jim Hansen - the man who first broke the warnings about the greenhouse effect in 1988 - says: "We are on the precipice of climate system tipping points beyond which there is no redemption."

The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) puts it more diplomatically. In its carefully worded, politically-parsed and vetted Synthesis Report, it warns that "anthropogenic warming could lead to some impacts that are abrupt or irreversible, depending upon the rate and magnitude of the climate change".

More recent studies suggest that phenomena such as accelerated melting of the Greenland ice sheet and less carbon dioxide (CO2) being absorbed by the oceans mean that tipping points and abrupt climate change could actually be much closer than we think.

Breaking the deadlock

If the scientists are worried and calling for action, what has been the reaction of our political leadership?

As I sit here in Delhi, the talk is of Bali being an almighty battle between the "rich North" and the "poor South".

The position of my own government is well known. India is a staunch supporter of the "principle of common but differentiated responsibilities" enshrined in the text of the UN climate convention when it comes to environmental effort.

In short, this holds that as non-historical emitters with large poor populations and negligible per capita emissions, developing countries should not be expected to reduce their emissions.

Development pathways cannot be compromised as a result of climate change, and developing countries need room to develop.

The head of the Chinese delegation at Bali - citing figures suggesting developed countries are responsible for 77% of greenhouse gas emissions prior to 2000 - says: "The primary responsibility for tackling climate change should rest with the developed countries - they should take the lead."

This southern perspective is a bit of a caricature of reality. Outside the handy world view of political blocs such as the G-77/China, the world of the 21st Century is infinitely more diverse.

It defies the easy categorisation of labels, such as "developing" or "southern" that political traditions and ideological expediency ascribe.

For example, the inconvenient truth is that countries at immediate risk of climate change, such as small island states, are given short shrift by more powerful middle-income nations like India and China, which are more effective at setting agendas on behalf of the developing world.

Indeed, a coalition of small island states now wants China and India to reduce their emissions. China's CO2 emissions now arguably exceed those of the US, while India is the world's fourth largest emitter.

Even if the developed world were to stop emitting tomorrow, we would still be locked into long-term climate change, with China's and India's projected emissions tipping us over the edge.

In it together

Current global climate politics are abysmally "unfit for purpose". The carving up of the world into "developed" and "developing" countries is not only archaic, it has created a pack mentality and self-justifying logic that has hidden diversity, masked interests and obstructed the emergence of truly co-operative global solutions.

Finding a politics more suited to the precarious climate-constrained age we are living in will require a return to first principles, new thinking and new mindsets.

The first principle is to recognise a common human interest in a pro-active response to climate change. Playing the waiting game will not benefit anyone - we are imperilled as a species, not as nationalities.

Climate justice requires that we maintain climate stability for poor, vulnerable and marginalised communities in every country. The poor should not be used by others as an excuse for inaction.

Once we have agreed to preserve climate stability, we need to ensure there is a fair share of the global commons for everyone and that all countries can gain from the opportunities presented by moving to a low carbon economy. Weaning the world off oil will be of greatest benefit to the poorest countries.

Thirdly, if our bloc politics are a constraint on action, we need to change them. Thinking "out of the box" may be difficult for bureaucrats and others with a vested interest in the institutional status quo, but change is possible.

Progressive politicians, business leaders, civil society organisations and opinion formers have a key role to play in articulating a new global ethics and a politics of the possible that drive change in a new forward-looking direction.

Climate change must be seized as a new agenda of hope and opportunity to galvanise a new generation of leaders for whom action, not rhetoric, counts and who are committed to making positive change happen.

As the delegates in Bali reflect on our future, they would do well to think as human beings.

Malini Mehra is the founder and chief executive of the Centre for Social Markets, which specialises in corporate responsibility, sustainability and climate change

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

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