An Inclement Future for Singapore's Climate

Participants at SG Climate Rally holding signs with messages of climate action | Photo

courtesy of JEREMY KWAN

“What do we want? Climate action! When do we want it? Now!” More than a thousand Singaporeans chanted at Hong Lim Park on Sept 21 during the first Singapore Climate Rally. The message was simple: we need to step up. But not everyone was on the same page.

Mothership.sg wrote an article after the event that “Singaporeans didn’t take SG Climate Rally seriously despite climate crisis”. The online comments were vastly mixed. Even The Straits Times had changed the headline of the story four times.

In fact, a friend of mine offhandedly remarked that even he still didn’t really understand what the rally was asking for when they demanded for “climate action”.

It seems the call for urgent action against climate change in the UN’s 13th Sustainable Development Goal on Climate Action, has yet to even reach a consensus among the Singaporean public with so much confusion and scepticism floating about.

Which begs the question, will Singapore ever be ready to make the changes we need to preserve our planet in time?

A SNAPSHOT OF CURRENT EFFORTS

The government is doing something, don’t get me wrong. From establishing ourselves as a “garden city” to being the regional leader in innovative green technology, they recognise that we are affected by the climate crisis; that’s why there are various plans rolled out to address this multi-faceted issue.

Some of the key initiatives include Singapore Sustainable Blueprint, the Carbon Pricing Bill, Maritime Singapore Green Initiative, Year of Climate Action, etc. Offices such as the National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) and the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change have also been set up as well to boost the existing Ministry of Environment and Water Resources.

Yet despite all these measures, Singapore still lags behind on the world stage.

According to the Climate Action Tracker, Singapore’s targets are far below what’s needed to stop global warming beyond a 2 degree Celsius increase, let alone keep to a 1.5 degree increase. In reality, we would in fact reach a 3-4 degree increase if everyone followed the rate we’re going.

This is partly due to current strategies focusing on adapting to the impacts of climate change instead of mitigating its effects – which is worrying because if the effects of climate change is not reduced, then more needs to be done to adapt to its consequences.

A MATTER OF FOCUS

Survey results from a poll by Channel News Asia

In an online survey conducted by Channel News Asia, 92% of respondents are very much concerned about the impact of climate change in Singapore and indicated that they will do their part to minimise their impact, though less strongly agreed to that.

“But then between intent and action, there’s a big gap,” Ms Soh Bee Lian, the Head of Sustainability of a multi-national company said.

According to the 2019 NCCS Climate Change Public Perception survey, slightly less than half of the respondents actually knew what to do to reduce climate change.

Ms Soh cited the 2019 Globescan’s report on Healthy & Sustainable Living to explain this disparity, which stated: high costs, lack of support from businesses and governments, lack of knowledge, and difficulty changing one’s lifestyle are barriers to people making a change.

Mr Ken Hickson, CEO of a sustainability consultancy and long-time player in the environmental scene, observed that although environmental consciousness and action is still a work-in-progress, momentum is definitely on the rise.

11-year-old Oliver Chua speaks about his worries for the future at the SG Climate Rally |

Photo courtesy of JEREMY KWAN

No matter how the public reacted to events like SG Climate Rally, there’s no denial that climate change is a pressing issue; especially when children as young as 11 years are stepping out to voice their concerns for the future they will be inheriting.

With the arrival of a new decade, perhaps the question isn’t whether Singapore is ready to take climate action – but rather, whether we’ll make it soon enough.