Essay (Draft 2)

“Is Singapore government doing enough to address the issue of climate change?”

Goldin mentioned in his TED talk that due to the globalization, several problems have evolved; one of the many problems that he mentioned was global climate change. Climate change is the result of an increase in the average temperature and the rise in sea level. Climate change could leads to changes in the rainfall patterns; extreme temperatures in some areas and it might also cause a change in biodiversity. Most countries suffered as a result of this phenomenon. One of the main causes of climate change is the increasing amount of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, emitted through human activities. With globalization, countries undergo industrialization and development, leading to an increase in fossil fuel combustion, which generates large amount of greenhouse gases.

Singapore is a small country, and we are more susceptible to changes. Singapore’s temperature had increased by 0.2 degrees Celsius since 1948 and mean sea level of the straits of Singapore had also increased since then. Singapore’s carbon dioxide emission is less than 0.2% of the world’s carbon emission, however, it is still important for Singapore to have measures to lower the carbon emission to lower the effects of climate change even though it is not very significant. This is because climate change is not a problem that could be solved by one country; it requires all the countries to come together to play a part in helping to address this global issue. As a result, Singapore government had come up with several solutions to address the issue of climate change, however, they are not sufficient.

Singapore had switched from using fuel oil or coal to using natural gas as the main fuel for electricity. Natural gas emit lesser amount of carbon dioxide as compared to fuel oil. The power sector emits large amount of carbon dioxide in Singapore; with the use of natural gas, there will be significant drop in the amount of carbon dioxide emitted. However, this solution is only effective to a certain extent. It is effective as natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel and it generates far less carbon dioxide as compared to oil or coal. It is not very effective in the long run as natural gas is a non-renewable resource, it will not be sustainable to use natural gas for a long period of time to generate electricity.

Transportation is another factor that causes carbon emissions in Singapore. Singapore government has several policies for transportation to lower the carbon emissions. Private cars contributed the largest share of carbon emissions by the transport sector at 35%. Thus, there’s a need to lower the number of private cars in Singapore. The government has a vehicle quota system, which limits the number of private cars on the road in Singapore. In addition, all new cars owners have to bid for the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) in order to purchase a new car. However, I feel that even with this policy being imposed in Singapore, it is not effective. According to a newspaper article by an economist (2012), he mentioned in his article that people are driving more when COE prices rises. This shows us that when people are driving more often, it would contribute more to the carbon emissions in Singapore. Even with the higher COE prices, it is hard to lower down the usage of private cars.

Apart from the implemention of the COE, in 2013, Singapore had been promoting the use of green vehicles in Singapore where these vehicles generally emit less carbon dioxide. The Singapore government came out with Carbon Emissions-based Vehicle (CEV) Scheme to encourage Singaporeans to purchase green vehicles instead of the normal vehicles. CEV works by giving rebates to users when they buy cars that emit lesser carbon dioxide while cars that emit high amount of carbon dioxide would be charged. However, I feel that this is not effective. Even with the increase government’s efforts to come up with such schemes to encourage more car users to buy green vehicles, these vehicles are still not popular in Singapore. These vehicles are generally more expensive even with the rebates given and Singaporeans have limited awareness of how these green vehicles work and are doubtful about it. Thus, they would choose to get the normal vehicles instead.

Transportation in Singapore includes public transports like, the buses and Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and they contribute a lower proportion of carbon emissions in Singapore. I would suggest Singapore government to lower public transport cost to promote private cars users to switch to taking the public transport. I feel that it would be more effective since with a lesser number of private car users on the road would significantly decrease carbon emissions.

In conclusion, I feel that Singapore is not doing enough to address the issue of climate change even with the different policies and schemes that the government has. The government can improve the current policies to further helps to lower carbon emissions in Singapore.

Reference:

1. National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS). (2013).

Impact of Climate Change on Singapore

Retrieved March 7, 2014 from https://app.nccs.gov.sg/page.aspx?pageid=160&secid=157

2. Land Transport Authority (LTA). (2013).
Tax Structure For Cars
Retrieved March 7, 2014 from http://www.lta.gov.sg/content/ltaweb/en/roads-and-motoring/owning-a-vehicle/costs-of-owning-a-vehicle/tax-structure-for-cars.html

3. Ivan Png. (2012, August 2). People drive more when COE price rise.
The Straits Times, pA30