S'pore's stance on global environmental issues

Kuali Baba SG

This week, the gov't mouthpiece replaced "S'pore rejects emission cuts" with "S'pore will do its fair share"

SINGAPORE sent a strong signal on Thursday that it will not be prepared to accept any emissions cuts as part of a global agreement to tackle climate change at an international summit in Copenhagen later this year.

Speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of the 11th Asean Ministerial Meeting on the Environment on Thursday, Minister for the Environment & Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said: 'We are not obligated to set targets or reduce emissions, but...we will do our part.'

'Whatever we do, we cannot compromise our ability to grow. So how we find a balance will be a continuous process.'

He added that the Government is continually reviewing its targets across all sectors of the economy and assessing how they can be improved.

Singapore's stance comes despite pressure from countries like Japan and Australia, which have said the Republic should be subjected to firm targets because of high per capita emissions from industries here.

The other Asean countries - with the exception of Indonesia, which announced reduced emissions targets earlier this month - have adopted a similar position.

Current article

SINGAPORE is committed to ongoing international efforts to tackle the climate change issue and is prepared to play its part if a global agreement is reached, Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said on Friday.

If climate change is to be addressed effectively, there must be a concerted effort by all countries, he said, in a statement responding to queries from the media on the issue.

'And to move the process forward, we need a fair global solution that takes into account differences in national circumstances,' he said.

Dr Yaacob issued his comments from Barcelona, where he is attending the Informal Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change.

This is being held ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, where a new global warming treaty is set to be signed.

He noted on Friday that Singapore is not an AnnexI country and is not obligated to take on economy-wide targets on reducing emissions.

My opinion: The "global solution" is really just a red herring. While the focus is on climate change and the jury is still out on whether that's man-made or who contributes the most, it's linked to other urgent issues. For one, cutting our consumption of natural resources and energy is the obvious one that helps lower emissions and waste.

That of courseruns counter to "growth" (which is really just digging our own graves), but I'm disappointed that our leaders don't have the moral courage to rethink the status quo and shelve the current never-ending "growth" targets in favour of a more sustainable model. Taking the backseat though means that there is one less voice to compel the likes of China to follow suit.

angel7030 SG

Hello, one country effort is not going to save the world, besides, climate changes does not imply totally on emission problem, some scientist said that the world is wobbling, some said that the world naturally change after a few thousand years, some said the world is readjusting itself, some said the ice age or dry era is a natural process of earth evolution.

In my opinon, everyone is talking about greenhouse effect and drafting out steps to reduce emission and waste, all of them can blah blah black sheep in APEC or World forum etc etc...but who actually do it? Consider those top economy nation of the world that need alots of power to generate their factories and economy, are they taking steps?? if not, do u think a red dot economy state like singapore alone can stop the iceberg from melting?? Now, who live more near to the north??

the Bear SG

it starts with me..

simple huh?

as long as the people and not the politicians want to do it, the politicians will be FORCED to do it..

ultimately, it's the people who actually hold the power... by rejecting the things which aren't very environmentally friendly, we force the corporations to change...

on the simplest scale, we stop buying bottled water and bring a bottle with us, filling it from the tap (it is safe goddamnit!! don't boil the water!! it's a total waste of time and energy!) we negate the need for plastics, shipping, energy and more...

it's that simple..

charlize SG

I think you will notice there will be a lot of "feel good" politically correct headlines for the next few weeks in anticipation of the coming APEC meeting.

Go observe the main headlines in the papers everyday from today onwards.

angel7030 SG

If one said our papers are state media, no further comment needed, or might as well dun read it and save your eyesight for more handsome hunks

Stevenson101 SG

Hilarious.

Are you then willing to seperate your trash into plastic/metal/biodegradable every week and bring it to the trash collector ?

Are you going to give up owning a car and taking public transport ?

Would you voluntarily bring your own container to your hawker and tell him to put the takeaway in that instead of a styrofoam container?

Would you accept high utility bills and gas prices (which the Europeans are doing) in order to cut down on your usage?

No, we would dragged kicking and screaming to the "Living Sustainably" Table, whining about how the government is interfering in our lives and hoping to get politicians that would be more obedient to our childish whims.

They know they can't commit to this, because they simply can't push us any more.

And shame on us on pushing this particular blame on the government, when we ourselves would not have the courage to make the sacrifice.

angel7030 SG

The reluctancy of govts to switch all cars to hybrid or CNG is already telling you to burnt more oil. All these big economy countries are hypocrite to me, in fact, those poorest tribes in africa or some ulu rural areas like Eskimos or the poors are the one who is truly doing the recycling and saving the world.

noahnoah SG

haiz. must do a part for the mother nature

as the earth is getting very sick

later major flood come.. all mati

but is ok..noah will be the last man to survive

"accourding to bible"

luckily my ark can withstand mega tidal wave.

anyway my ark is solar power one "environment friendly"

"heal the world"

by Mj

angel7030 SG

haiz. must do a part for the mother nature

as the earth is getting very sick

later major flood come.. all mati

but is ok..noah will be the last man to survive

"accourding to bible"

luckily my ark can withstand mega tidal wave.

anyway my ark is solar power one "environment friendly"

"heal the world"

by Mj

Mj can't even heal himself.

If the world is coming to an end, i dun mind be yr promoter, bet your ark will be charging the highest entry tickets

Kuali Baba SG

Hilarious.

Are you then willing to seperate your trash into plastic/metal/biodegradable every week and bring it to the trash collector ?

Are you going to give up owning a car and taking public transport ?

Would you voluntarily bring your own container to your hawker and tell him to put the takeaway in that instead of a styrofoam container?

Would you accept high utility bills and gas prices (which the Europeans are doing) in order to cut down on your usage?

They know they can't commit to this, because they simply can't push us any more.

And shame on us on pushing this particular blame on the government, when we ourselves would not have the courage to make the sacrifice.

Check, check, check (well, that's me).

The only thing that I'm blaming the gov't for (at the moment) is the lack of firm commitment on this issue in the international arena.

angel7030 SG

committed, omg! there are billions of dollars at play, and peoples are born naturally selfish.

Kuali Baba SG

committed, omg! there are billions of dollars at play, and peoples are born naturally selfish.

And it's a shame that people can't rise above that selfishness and shortsighted greed.

Chew Bakar SG

What is the use of billions $$ if the only planet that we live on are in ruins.

Ed11790 SG

people go green or watch 2012

googoomuck SG

I've already seen a few Sabaru R1e electric cars on the road. That's a good start.

Atobe SG

I've already seen a few Sabaru R1e electric cars on the road. That's a good start.r

In typical fashion of "giving with one hand and taking back with two" - the Singapore Government has made all the right moves in reducing registration fees and rebates on the use of hybrid cars, but it has also quietly made more money from the owners of the hybrid cars throughout the economic life of the cars.

It does this by having the ‘LTA decides to tax hybrid vehicles based on their power output, instead of the engine capacity as for their petrol counterparts’ (*1)

Design an efficient engine that generates more power, and your reward is higher road tax.

Let’s take a look at an example, say the luxurious and (relatively) fuel-efficient Lexus RX400h.

That’s a staggering $2,278 more per year you have to pay for the privilege of driving an eco-friendly, fuel-efficient hybrid vehicle in Singapore.