Climate change and energy transition: the 2023 scorecard

By:
On:
In: Asia

Last year was the hottest on record by a wide margin. The planet is now 1.48 degrees Celsius warmer than it was before the fossil-fuel revolution.

Global heating is accelerating. This year is likely to set another record because the latter half of 2023 featured an El Niño climate pattern that continues to influence global weather. The last colder-than-average year, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was 1976.

The United States experienced a record number of billion-dollar weather disasters in 2023. Canada’s wildfires in June resulted in an unprecedented flurry of air-quality alerts in the Northeast and Midwest of the US, with New York temporarily suffering the worst air quality of any city in the world. Wildfires also devastated Maui.

Elsewhere in the world, Libya, Guam, Malawi and Peru experienced horrific floods. According to the United Nations, drought now affects a quarter of humanity. Developing countries were stuck with proportionally higher recovery costs on a per capita basis.

The solution to climate change is to reduce and reverse the decades-long trend of annually increasing greenhouse-gas concentration in the planetary atmosphere. So let’s see what the numbers tell us on that score.

Carbon emissions

The carbon-dioxide (CO2) level in Earth’s atmosphere is now more than 420 parts per million, up from 315ppm in 1958 when the first direct measurements commenced. The atmospheric CO2 concentration has been increasing at more than 2ppm per year for the past several years.

This added CO2 in the atmosphere comes from human activities that release carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) into the air. US carbon emissions were down 3% in 2023 thanks mainly to an ongoing national switch from burning coal to burning natural gas for generating electricity.

But worldwide carbon emissions were up 1.1% compared with 2022. Since climate change is a global problem, it is the global statistic that matters.

Most emissions are energy-related, so phasing out fossil fuels in favor of low-carbon energy alternatives is critical.

While it’s too early to report final data for renewable energy-additions in 2023, last June, the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast that global renewable-energy generation capacity would increase by a record 440 gigawatts for the year (total world renewable-energy generation capacity, including hydropower, stands at about 4,500GW).

However, confusion sometimes results from failure to distinguish production capacity from actual generation, since solar and wind installations typically generate only 20-50% of their theoretical capacity because of variations in sunlight and wind.

Electricity generation

So let’s look at the actual generation numbers. Of the roughly 30,000 terawatt-hours of electricity generated globally in 2022, 8,500TWh (29%) came from renewables – more than half of that from hydropower.

We must be careful to distinguish between “electricity” and “energy,” another frequent source of confusion. Electricity’s share of all end-use energy usage remains stable at about 20%. After accounting for conversion factors, renewables (including solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, biofuels, and traditional biomass – that is, burning wood for cooking and heating) – provide about 16% of total world primary energy.

Nuclear energy also entails relatively low levels of carbon emissions, but its share of world energy fell to a multi-decade low in 2023, and nuclear projects are notoriously slow and expensive to bring online.

To reach net zero emissions by 2050 (which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change considers necessary to cap warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius) by providing 100% of total global energy from renewables, we would need a nearly tenfold increase in renewable-energy production, even assuming zero growth in overall global energy demand during that time.

Annual additions of solar and wind capacity would have to increase by well over an order of magnitude (10 times) compared with the current record rate. Electrification of transport, manufacturing, agriculture, and other sectors would also need to accelerate dramatically.

In its Net-Zero Roadmap report published in September 2023, the IEA recognized the extreme difficulty of achieving these increases in renewable energy and suggested instead that 19% of final energy will still come from fossil fuels in 2050 and that final-energy consumption will be reduced by 26%.

To remove the resultant emissions, the IEA estimated that 1 billion metric tons per year of carbon dioxide would need to be captured by 2030, rising to 6 billion by 2050. Mechanized technologies for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and direct air capture (DAC) that would be required to do this have been criticized as being too expensive, too energy-intensive, and underperforming in terms of their goal.

Currently, about 2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide is captured annually, nearly all by forests; only 49 million metric tons are being removed from the atmosphere by carbon removal technology projects across the world. About 80% of that captured carbon is used for “enhanced oil recovery.”

Meanwhile, more than 37 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide are being released by human activities, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels.

We can conclude from these scorecard numbers that, as of the start of 2024, humanity is not on track to avoid catastrophic climate change. The likelihood of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (the goal stated in the Paris Accords of 2015) is now extremely remote. Indeed, that threshold may be exceeded within just the next few years.

If world leaders genuinely hope to change these trends, dramatic action that entails re-evaluating current priorities will be required. Not just fossil-fuel subsidies but also continued growth in global energy-tied economic activity must be questioned.

Otherwise, we may be destined to fulfill the old adage: “If you do not change direction, you will end up where you are heading.”

This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute, which provided it to Asia Times.

Continue Reading

Taiwan’s de-risking efforts may be stopped at the polls

By:
On:
In: Asia

As Taiwanese voters prepare to go to the polls on Saturday, the island’s economy is on the upturn after a difficult 2023.

Exports, wages and stocks are all on the rise after a very disappointing 2023, when GDP growth was a third of what had been the case during the boom years of the past. At the same time, several economic problems have been piling up, such as a rapidly falling population and increasingly unaffordable housing coupled with stubbornly low wages. 

Another important development has been shaping the Taiwanese economy without receiving much attention, namely the diversification of trade and investment away from mainland China, which Europeans – followed by the US – have dubbed “de-risking.” 

The Taiwanese approach to de-risking not only came earlier than in the West, but it certainly cannot be confused with de-coupling.

Politics paramount

If there is a place where economics and politics cannot be separated, it is Taiwan. Foreign investors increasingly ask themselves how interlinked the Taiwanese economy is with that of the mainland, or more bluntly, how dependent it might be.

In other words, investors want to understand how high the cost of de-risking might be, but they miss an important point: Taiwan has managed to reduce its exposure to the mainland during the last few years, especially for foreign direct investment, but less so for trade.

Still, the trend has not been rapid enough to change the obvious: China remains the most important trade and investment partner for Taiwan.

The rest of Asia has grown in importance as a market for Taiwan since 2020. In the same vein, the proportion of exports going to the US has increased even more rapidly.

The same is true for Taiwan’s outbound investment, which has grown quickly but no longer toward the mainland. Instead, it is toward the US and the rest of Asia, with Europe remaining a more stagnant destination.

Despite this diversification of Taiwanese trade away from China and toward the rest of Asia and the US, it is not clear how the island can further reduce China’s share given Taipei’s failure to conclude any significant bilateral trade agreements or join any new regional trade pacts, in part because of interference from Beijing.

Where the contenders stand

Against this backdrop, the current chairman of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, Vice-President Lai Ching-te, who is also the DPP’s presidential nominee, is keen to maintain the current government’s strategy of promoting geographical diversification of trade and investment, mostly for national-security reasons.

The Kuomintang (KMT) nominee, in the opposition for the last eight years, Hou Yu-ih, is betting on improving economic ties with the mainland.

In particular, he is planning to relaunch the economic cooperation agreements that the last KMT president, Ma Ying-jeou, did not manage to finalize during his second mandate from 2012 to 2012, which included more technological, financial and people-to-people cooperation.

Ma’s efforts were finally put aside because of political tensions, both domestically and across the Taiwan Strait, as well as protests in the form of so-called Sunflower Movement.

The third candidate in the race, Ko Wen-je, founder of the Taiwan People’s Party (TTP), lies somewhat in between his rivals in a way that is probably not clear to the voters, possibly why he has appeared to lose ground in recent weeks. Still, his party is likely to become essential in the Legislative Yuan (Taiwan’s parliament).

Beyond the economic relations with the mainland, the three parties have somewhat different views on energy policies and the green transition. In particular, the DPP remains adamant that nuclear energy will not serve as a transition to reach Taiwan’s bold commitment to reaching net zero emissions by 2050, announced by the government in 2022.

This is even more surprising since Taiwan relies heavily on coal partially imported from the mainland.

On industrial policy, the only party that is seeking diversification away from the semiconductor industry is the TTP.

Where all parties seem to align, at least as part of their campaign to win votes, is on the need to improve social and labor policies in Taiwan, which still has the lowest minimum wage among developed Asian economies while income per capita has surpassed those of Japan and South Korea.

All in all, Taiwan’s economic direction stands at a crossroads as far as relations with the mainland are concerned, pending the election results but also other key developments thereafter.

These are the potential negative reaction from the mainland to a third mandate of a DPP government, and the US reaction (with President Joe Biden having recently announced that a US delegation will visit the island after the elections), as well America’s own presidential election later this year.

Finally, the third party in the race, the TPP, may also play a key role in alliance-building if neither of the other two parties secures control of the Legislative Yuan.

Alicia García Herrero is chief economist for Asia-Pacific at Natixis and senior research fellow at Bruegel. Follow her on Twitter/X @Aligarciaherrer.

Continue Reading

Singapore more than halfway to its 2030 solar power deployment target: Grace Fu

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

SINGAPORE: Singapore is more than halfway to its solar power deployment target of at least 2,000 megawatt-peak by 2030, said Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu on Wednesday (Jan 10).

The country has doubled its solar power deployment since 2021 to over 1,000 megawatt-peak currently, she added.

The minister gave the updated figures in parliament in response to questions on Singapore’s progress in transitioning towards renewable energy. 

During the UN Climate Change Conference 2023 (COP28), Singapore co-facilitated negotiations on mitigation and the first global stocktake that contributed to the successful adoption of the UAE Consensus, which calls on countries to transition away from fossil fuels, said Ms Fu.  

The UAE Consensus also calls on countries to triple renewable energy and double energy efficiency globally by 2030. 

At the conference, Singapore signed the Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency pledge. 

“Singapore supports the UAE Consensus. As part of our long-term low-emissions development strategy, Singapore has committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, despite being a small, alternative energy disadvantaged city-state with many natural limitations on our climate action measures,” said the minister. 

The country has been accelerating its energy transition, with solar energy as one of its key pushes. 

Solar energy is one of the four “switches” that Singapore is deploying to achieve its net-zero target by 2050. The other three are natural gas, regional power grids and low-carbon alternatives. 

Solar energy will eventually allow Singapore to meet about 10 per cent of its projected electricity demand in 2050, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) said in November last year. 

The country is on track to meet the 1,500 megawatt-peak goal of solar deployment by 2025. 

According to EMA’s Singapore Energy Statistics 2023 report, the private sector has been the driving force behind the growth in solar deployment, accounting for 63.5 per cent of the total installed capacity.

Apart from solar energy, Singapore is working towards importing low-carbon electricity from the region. 

Continue Reading

Bus firm to ditch NGV vehicles

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

PUBLISHED: 3 January 2024 at 4:00 p.m.

As part of Thai Smile Bus ( TSB ) company’s policy to promote clean air and environmental sustainability, the entire fleet of 350 natural gas-fueled vehicles ( NGV ) buses will be decommissioned by the end of the month.

More than 95 % of the NGV buses have already been taken out of service, according to Kulpornpath Wongmajarapinya, TSB chief executive officer, with the most recent batch of 58 buses being removed from service on Monday.

She added that the action is a part of the company’s program to help net zero emissions and that 334 NGV cars have been decommissioned thus far, with the remaining 16 being put out of service by the end of this month.

According to Ms. Kulpornpath, TSB intends to purchase an additional 1,000 electronic buses this year, increasing its EV fleet to 3,100. In Bangkok and the surrounding provinces, the organization already deploys 2, 100 electric cars along 123 roads, serving between 250, 000 and 280,000 people per day.

In the first third of this year, she added, Thai Smile Boat Company will also relaunch the” Metro Line,” a flight passenger boat service that travels between Sathon and Rama VII piers on the Chao Phraya River.

She stated that there are now 35 electric vessels operating on the Chao Phraya River, which can accommodate more than 5,000 people per day. She added that the company plans to acquire nine more energy vessels this year, bringing the total to 44.

According to Ms. Kulpornpath, the business is getting ready to offer tourists boat services all year long.

Continue Reading

Bad air, caves and elephants

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

Radioactive tube goes missing

left A photo of the Caesium-137 cylinder that went missing from a power plant in Prachin Buri this year. Green Network Facebook Page

In March, residents of Prachin Buri woke up to a government warning that a tube containing radioactive Caesium-137 went missing from the National Power Plant 5A Company’s facility in the province.

Authorities scrambled to find the missing hazardous material among scrap metal shops and even offered a cash reward for information leading to the recovery of the missing tube. The missing Caesium-137 caused anxiety among villagers. The area within a 10-kilometre radius of the plant included a crowded community, a large school, a plantation and a river.

After more than a week of frantic searching, the Office of Atoms for Peace (OAP) secretary-general, Permsuk Sutchaphiwat, declared that a foundry in the same province had melted the scrap metal and contamination was contained in the furnace dust. Provincial governor Narong Nakhonchinda said there were 10 big bags of contaminated furnace dust, each weighing about 1 tonne.

Caretaker Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said residents would be safe from any impacts of the Caesium-137. The OAP said there was no trace of contamination found within a 5-kilometre radius of the foundry, all 70 employees were cleared of any radioactive traces and the site was closed for decontamination.

However, this has not eased locals’ fears that they may still be inhaling the dangerous dust from the furnace. The news has also undermined fruit sales in the area, with many orders cancelled.

Chiang Mai’s ‘airpocalypse’

Haze caused by high levels of hazardous ultra-fine PM2.5 covers the city of Chiang Mai on Feb 3. Chiang Mai was listed as having the worst air quality in the world at the beginning of this year by the pollution monitoring website IQAir. Northern Development Foundation

Chiang Mai suffered the infamy of being branded as having the world’s most polluted air, reaching its most hazardous concentrations of PM2.5 in March and April. The province’s prolonged airpocalypse sent residents, expats and tourists on an exodus out of the province. Cancelled holidays, closed shops and empty flights sent the local economy into a tailspin.

On April 10, about 1,700 residents filed a lawsuit at the Administrative Court against Caretaker Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and two state agencies over their failure to resolve the recurring haze in the North, which they claim is shortening their lives by five years. They wanted a local disaster declared.

The plaintiffs also accused the National Environmental Board of failing to effectively implement the national plan to tackle particulate matter pollution introduced in 2019. In addition, they said, the Securities and Exchange Commission should be held responsible for failing to examine the sources of ultrafine dust pollution within the supply chains of major listed companies.

The court dismissed the case on the grounds the situation did not warrant such a declaration and that state agencies had already taken measures to mitigate the problem. Chiang Mai governor Nirat Pongsitthaworn said forest fires in the North as well as in neighbouring countries were the major cause.

Nearly 1.5 million Thais have suffered from air pollution-related ailments since the beginning of the year, said the Public Health Ministry.

The PM2.5 issue further escalated when Krittai Tanasombatkul, a 29-year-old doctor in Chiang Mai, died on Dec 5 from lung cancer — said to be caused by exposure to polluted air.

Jumbo back from Sri Lanka

Elephant Sak Surin plays in the sand at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang. The Thai Elephant Conservation Centre Lampang

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment brought the ailing Thai jumbo Sak Surin back to its motherland on July 2 after having lived in Sri Lanka for over 22 years as a goodwill ambassador for the country.

Kanchana Silpa-archa, a former adviser to the Environment Ministry, made a major effort to repatriate the animal after learning the 30-year-old male elephant was in leg chains and had injuries to many parts of his body.

Sak Surin was among three Thai elephants gifted to Sri Lanka to strengthen diplomatic relations. The elephant’s job in its early days in Sri Lanka was to carry the Lord Buddha’s relics during religious parades.

It stayed at a temple from then. A Sri-Lanka-based animal protection organisation witnessed its predicament and campaigned for better living conditions for the animal. After six months of negotiations, the Sri Lankan government agreed to let it return home.

The vet team was sent for a medical check-up and health assessment, and a team of mahouts prepared it for the flight back.

Sak Surin landed at Chiang Mai International Airport and was sent into animal quarantine at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in nearby Lampang province.

A check found five tumours with a 10cm radius on Sak Surin’s thighs and a mass with a 1cm radius on its right cornea. The elephant also had damaged toenails and could not stretch or bend his front left leg.

The vets said further medical treatment was required. It is still under the conservation centre’s supervision and has started to recover.

The government spent 19.5 million baht on the mission to bring the jumbo home.

Dept of Climate Change set up

above The Department of Climate Change and Environment was created to show the country’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and managing climate impacts. Department of Climate Change and Environment

In August, the Department of Climate Change and Environment (CCE) started work, signalling the country’s more proactive approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing measures to manage climate impacts.

Varawut Silpa-archa, Minister of Environment of Natural Resources and Environment at the time, declared “the department is vital as Thailand now has a body that is directly responsible for tackling issues related to climate change”.

Thailand is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate impacts, with global implications in commodity supplies and manufacturing supply chains.

It is one of the biggest producers of rice, rubber, sugar, fruit and seafood for the world market. It also makes a significant amount of semiconductors and vehicles for export. Its tourism industry is one of the world’s largest. These sectors have been disrupted by extreme weather events in the past.

The department’s mandate includes working with public and private sectors as well as international agencies to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2065, in line with the 1.5C goal of the Paris Agreement.

The government also revised the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution from 20% to 40% by 2030.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said climate change has become an urgent problem and the government has been doing everything necessary to fight the climate crisis.

Tham Luang Cave opens

Park rangers check the safety of the Tham Luang cave complex in Chiang Rai before the reopening of Chambers 2 and 3.  Public Relations Office

On Dec 15, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation for the first time opened Chambers 2 and 3 of the Tham Luang cave complex for adventure lovers.

The cave is well-known among the global community as the location where 12 Wild Boar footballers and their coach were rescued after being trapped in the flooded cave for 18 days in 2018 during the rainy season.

The cave is part of Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non National Park in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district.

The department began tours to Chamber 3 over a distance of 800 metres.

The route will give tourists a better idea about what happened in the mission to rescue the boys who were trapped in Chamber 9, around 2.4km from the cave entrance.

The DNP has not yet opened the area beyond Chamber 3 for public visits due to safety concerns, although its team has surveyed 10km of the cave.

Visitors must be fit and healthy, as the floor of the cave can be slippery. There is also a steep path and sharp rocks along the route. Visitors are also required to climb upwards by holding on to a rope in some parts.

When in Chamber 3, visitors will see traces of the rescue bid, including rope lines that helped transport the boys who were put to sleep before their journey. There is also an oxygen-transmitting line and communication line.

Visitors can learn more about the cave landscape, which has a narrow route and vertical rock that is difficult to climb up.

The department believes the programme will draw interest from tourists, especially foreign tourists.

The programme is open for two groups per day, of no more than 10 people. A tour must be booked at least seven days in advance via the Tham Luang-Khun Nam Nang Non National Park’s webpage.

The reservation is to allow officials time to prepare the necessary equipment. Accompanying each tour group will be park officials and two local guides.

Continue Reading

Taiwan poised for economic bounceback in 2024

By:
On:
In: Asia

The Taiwanese economy will end the year with underwhelming economic growth of around 1.2%. One of the key problems has been weak exports due to the high cost of funding globally and excess inventory in the semiconductor and electronic sectors.

The good news is that the worst should be over in 2024 as the US Federal Reserve starts easing in the second quarter of 2024. Beyond the cheaper cost of funding globally, demand for electronics and semiconductors should also improve as inventories have been reduced in 2023.  All in all, Taiwan’s growth should more than double in 2024 to 2.9%. 

Given better global financial conditions and the expectation of a better export cycle, Taiwanese companies should increase their capex in 2024. As regards foreign direct investment, China remains attractive both for green energy, especially offshore wind, but also for artificial intelligence-related projects.

However, geopolitics are becoming increasingly relevant for foreign investors when deciding whether to bet on Taiwan. In particular, the risk of military conflict in the Taiwan Strait is often discussed in the board rooms of major foreign companies considering Taiwan as an investment destination.

As regards consumption, the policy of raising wage growth to 4% for military, civil servants and public school teachers should offer some support against the background of intense outbound tourism, which takes away part of household consumption

As for inflation, it should continue to decelerate from 2.5% in 2023 to 1.6% in 2024, following global disinflationary trends. However, there are still ongoing uncertainties regarding price volatility in agricultural products and extreme weather, which may bring price spikes.

Still, such a movement should not be a hurdle for the Central Bank of the Republic of China (CBC), Taiwan’s central bank, to start cutting once the Fed does but clearly at a much slower pace since the CBC did not follow the Fed fully on its tightening.

In fact, it seems hard for the CBC to cut rates beyond 1.675% from 1.875% today. This should be positive for Taiwan’s housing market.

Given the faster cuts by the Fed than the CBC, the Taiwan dollar has the potential to appreciate against the US greenback, especially if the tech cycle rebound attracts capital into Taiwan’s stock market. 

The spoiler of this rather positive outlook for Taiwan is the geopolitical risk. The first obvious one is the presidential elections in January, but this is not the main issue.

Investors mostly worry about China’s reaction to the potential victory of the incumbent party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but the key problem is much more structural than the result of the elections and boils down to the future of Taiwan, at least from foreign investors’ point of view.

Going back to the elections, they are unlikely to result in a significant shift in economic policies in terms of the fiscal and monetary stance while derisking policies to diversify the economy away from China might not continue if the Kuomintang (KMT) were to win.

So far Taiwan’s exports to mainland China (including Hong Kong) have declined from 40% on average between 2015-2019 to 35% in 2023. Meanwhile, the US is the biggest source of Taiwan’s export orders and the share has surged from 28% to 32% for the same period. What has not yet happened sufficiently is a diversification of Taiwanese investment and trade toward Southeast Asia.

Moving forward, another key challenge for Taiwan is energy transition. Taiwan’s net zero targets by 2050 seem very hard to achieve in the current circumstances, which may also have consequences for Taiwan’s exports, especially those with large carbon emissions as the European Union pushes ahead with its carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).

All in all, the Taiwanese economy should be better in 2024, both growth and inflation-wise, supported by better funding conditions. The elephant in the room, though, is geopolitical risk, especially in this election year but also structurally. A second major challenge is how to navigate Taiwan’s energy transition given its very bold targets.

Alicia Garcia Herrero is chief economist for Asia-Pacific at Natixis.

Continue Reading

Western Digital partners with Tenaga Nasional to integrate renewable energy within its Malaysia operations

By:
On:
In: Technology

Company aims to achieve 100% renewal energy globally by 2030
Collaboration with TNB will help fulfil 25% of its domestic energy requirements

Western Digital has signed a collaboration with Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) through its wholly-owned subsidiary, TNB Renewables Sdn. Bhd. to drive renewable energy implementation in its operations in Malaysia with the…Continue Reading

Commentary: COP28 raises questions about the future of Singapore’s fossil fuel-reliant industries

By:
On:
In: South-East Asia

DATA CENTRES, MARITIME AND AVIATION

Another area to keep an eye on is the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. Currently, the ICT industry is responsible for a relatively modest 8 per cent of electricity consumption in Singapore. However, ICT power use has quadrupled over the last 10 years.

According to consultancy Cushman and Wakefield, Singapore is now the largest data-centre market on a city basis in the Asia-Pacific outside China, with more than 40 data centres. Given the growth potential of this industry, it is important for data centres to adopt the latest smart cooling technologies. 

A further concern is maritime transport and aviation, business activities which Singapore is a hub for. The emissions associated with these sectors are generally not included in national estimates, because the fuels used are categorised as “international bunkers” and are not included in the Paris Agreement. This loophole has limited the pressure to address these sectors’ emissions until recently.

If the aviation industry fails to abate its emissions, it could consume more than a quarter of the world’s carbon budget for 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming by 2050. Although the aviation industry has recently agreed to reach net zero emissions by 2050, this is a voluntary agreement which risks being reneged upon if procuring enough sustainable aviation fuel or commercialising electric planes proves too challenging.  

A rigorous carbon accounting model would include all emissions attributable to Singaporeans’ air travel. It would also include the emissions due to shipping of goods they buy. Ideally, it would additionally account for the emissions due to the production of goods imported into the country.

While these indirect emissions are more challenging to estimate, they are crucial in getting the full picture of Singapore’s carbon footprint. It is time for individuals, companies and countries to take responsibility for their own actions and the environmental impacts they cause.

The transition away from fossil fuels is now official. The urgency of the climate crisis behoves all countries to take stock of and apportion responsibility for their emissions. The conclusion of COP28 is a chance for Singapore to review its climate strategy and decide where it should strengthen its efforts.

Roger Fouquet is Senior Research Fellow at Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore.

Continue Reading