Lucky Last

Singapore is about to go bright green and low carbon

Fresh from his lightning visit to Singapore to speak at the National Sustainability Conference, Ken Hickson reflects on the commitment of the island state to a clean energy, low carbon future and the calibre of its leaders in Government, business and the environment sectors.

Not only speaking about what‘s going on its Australia and around the world, but learning what’s happening in the centre of the Asian universe for sustainability and clean tech.

In Singapore, there is strong focus on Waste and Water Management, as well as Energy Efficiency Programmes, driven by Government, organisations like the Singapore Environment Council, as well as the private sector.

Singapore always welcomes the contribution of industry and business, and whether it is in sponsoring or supporting public education programmes, or investing directly in plant and infrastructure, there is no doubt that considerable progress is being made to go beyond the image of “clean and green” to seriously move towards a sustainable city and a low carbon economy.

This is all the more remarkable because Singapore is the third largest oil refinery centre in the world. It is determined to break its dependence on imported oil and gas by considering alternatives, including innovative solar and waste to energy plans, as well as learn to be much more efficient with how it produces and uses electricity.

Also meeting some great communicators, who are determined to see that Singapore not only does the right thing eco-wise, but also sets some great green examples for the rest of the region:  

• Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Water Resources;
• Simon Tay, Chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs;
• Howard Shaw, Executive Director of the Singapore Environment Council;
• Ong Seng Eng, Director of the National Environment Agency;
• Lee Chuan Seng, President of the Singapore Green Building Council;
• Lina Goh, Head of the Office of Environmental Sustainability at NUS;
• Lim Chuen Ming, Head, Cleantech at the Economic Development Board;
• John Pearson, Head of Climate Change Network for the British High Commission;
• Mann Young, Head of Sustainability for Len Lease in Asia.

There are also a host of green people with bright ideas, including Bhavani Prakash with her Eco walk the talk; Eugene Tay of Green Future Solutions  and Green Business Times; Olivia Choong of Sustainable PR, and Chris Tobias of eco-business.com.

It was privilege to be part of the National Sustainabiity Conference in Singapore last week. For deep insight into the content of the event, presentations (including my own) and media material, this can all be found at: http://nationalsustainabilityconference.com/news_room.html

What else did I learn about in Singapore?

• Green Bus Trial – plans to run some of the city’s public transport on hybrid technology, reducing fuel use by as much as 30%, as well as trial a zero emission bus developed by the Nanyang Technological University.
• G1 (eco cars) to rival F1 – in the same month (September) as the gas guzzling high profile Formula 1 grand prix in Singapore, will be the city’s first G1 for eco-friendly cars organised by the Singapore Environment Council..
• Clean Tech Park – planned by the Jurong Town Corporation and the Economic Development Board is a 50 hectare eco-business park, aiming to be a choice location for green minded business owners as well as foster research and development in the clean-tech sector.
• World Green Building Council International Congress 2010 (13-16 September) -   In line with the mission of the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) to propel Singapore’s building and construction industry towards environmental sustainability, SGBC is pleased to present the inaugural Green Building Council Conference and the WorldGBC International Congress 2010 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

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Source: www.abccarbon.com, www.nus.edu.sg/oes, www.nea.gov.sg, & www.sec.org.sg

Yes, this is such a late despatch this week, it hardly warrants the title “express”, but we have plenty of excuses, including crossing time zones and even the fact that late news just kept coming in!  Back on cooler but sun-blessed ground in Brisbane this mid-week to attend and speak at the Climate Change@Work Conference, also gave me the chance to catch up on other outstanding social and business matters. Next week, you can expect to find me at the Climate Change and Business Conference in Sydney and, all going well, also attending the Beyond Zero Emissions seminar on Thursday evening. And yes, I am offsetting my air miles!