Government Seeks Views on Singapore’s Climate Action Plans

The National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS), an agency under the Prime Minister’s Office, has launched a public consultation exercise to seek views from key stakeholders as well as members of the public on measures that can be taken to further enhance Singapore’s plan to reduce carbon emissions and promote green growth beyond 2020.

Background

Singapore’s national strategy to address climate change was unveiled in 2012. It included plans to reduce carbon emissions^[1], adapt to the impact of climate change and harness green growth opportunities. The Sustainable Singapore Blueprint 2015 launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Nov 2014, in outlining a vision for a liveable and sustainable Singapore, also contained updates to Singapore’s plans in the areas of resource conservation, climate resilience and growing the green economy. As a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Singapore is also actively involved in ongoing negotiations to work out a new international agreement on climate change by end-2015. Ahead of the new international agreement, countries are expected to put forth new commitments to address climate change. In preparation for this, the government will gather feedback on measures that can be taken to further reduce carbon emissions in the post-2020 period.

Consultation Details

NCCS, in collaboration with relevant agencies such as the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), is launching an online public consultation that will focus on measures and actions that can be taken by businesses and households, as well as green growth opportunities. The online public consultation will take place between 20 Jan 2015 and 31 Mar 2015. Members of the public are invited to view the consultation papers and submit their views online at https://www.nccs.gov.sg/public-consultation/past-public-consultations/public-consultation-on-climate-change-and-singapore or https://www.reach.gov.sg. A summary of the feedback received will be released at the end of the consultation period. The government will take the feedback into consideration in determining Singapore’s contributions to the new international agreement. An infographic on the consultation exercise is at Annex.

[1] For 2020, Singapore has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by 16 per cent from the 2020 business-as-usual (BAU) level, contingent on a legally binding global agreement in which all countries implement their commitments in good faith. Although a legally binding agreement has yet to be reached, Singapore has nonetheless started to implement mitigation and energy efficiency measures which should reduce its emissions by 7 per cent to 11 per cent from the 2020 BAU level.