Keynote Address by President Halimah Yacob at Ecosperity Week 2021

Mr Lim Boon Heng, Chairman of Temasek Holdings

Ms Ho Ching, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings

Mr Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek International

Your Excellencies

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning. It is my pleasure to join you here on the first day of Ecosperity Week 2021. A warm welcome to everyone tuning in virtually as well.

Over the past year and a half, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a significant toll on lives and livelihoods, and disrupted the plans of many. It has also alerted us to other threats to our societies, including climate change. There will be dire consequences of inaction to such threats, which we can now see clearly. We are living amid a climate crisis, and its impact could potentially be more severe than this pandemic.

I am glad that Ecosperity Week is back this year. Robust dialogues, agreed outcomes and decisive actions are vital in our fight against climate crisis.

Climate change will affect every region of the world. However, the effects on Southeast Asia risk being disproportionate. The Climate Economics Index by the Swiss Re Institute has warned that if no climate action is taken and temperatures rise by 3.2 degrees Celsius by mid-century, the GDP of ASEAN economies could be over a third smaller than what it would have been in a world without warming.

The ASEAN region’s long coastlines and heavily populated low-lying areas also make it particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by global warming. Under a scenario of a rise in sea level by 1-metre, at least 89 million people in the region would be living in zones at high risk of frequent coastal flooding. Typhoons and other weather events are becoming more intense and more frequent, and leave a higher human and economic toll.

Singapore is not immune to the effects of climate change. The Centre for Climate Change Research in Singapore has projected that by the end of the century, daily mean temperatures could rise by up to 4.6 degrees Celsius. Daily peak temperatures hitting 40 degrees Celsius could happen as early as 2045.

We are already experiencing the effects. Four out of the past six years were among the top 10 warmest years ever recorded in Singapore. Intense rainfall has also caused more  flash floods. Climate change will begin to affect our access to critical resources like energy, water and food. It will negatively impact our biodiversity; and pose severe implications for public health. We have a collective responsibility to take action today, to protect what we have and safeguard the interests of future generations.

Sustainability has always been a cornerstone of Singapore’s development story. As the country industrialised post-independence, we did so with sustainability in mind.  Even as we built public housing, pursued manufacturing investments, and developed our professional services sector, we planted trees along our roads, cleaned up the Singapore River, and set aside nature reserves.

As a small nation with no natural resources, we turned our challenges into opportunities so as to create a sustainable future. We went from being water-scarce to being able to recycle every drop of water, establishing Singapore as a world leader in water resource management, innovation and planning.

As Singapore urbanised rapidly and transformed from Third World to First, we kept a focus on our natural surroundings. From the 1960s, when we were known as the “Garden City”, to today, where we aim to be a “City in Nature”, we have always strived to balance economic development with environmental protection and social inclusion.

The Singapore story is testament to the fact that sustainability and economic growth need not be mutually exclusive. The key attributes remain the same: to preserve and improve the liveability of our city through long term planning and embracing nature.

That belief is also captured in the name of this event “Ecosperity”, which pairs the words ‘ecology’ and ‘prosperity’. While climate change can result in catastrophic and irreversible damage, it also presents both an opportunity and responsibility for businesses to help humanity transform.

Emerging technologies have enabled dramatic business model transformations. New industries are rapidly growing from opportunities and solutions. For instance, at least two thirds of global car sales will be electric by 2040. The alternative proteins market will reach at least US$290 billion by 2035. According to the International Labour Organisation, a shift to a greener economy could create 24 million jobs globally by 2030. There is immense economic value in the transition to a net-zero future.

A strong and robust public-private-people partnership is essential to combat climate change effectively for a more sustainable future. The Singapore Green Plan 2030 is a whole-of-nation agenda that charts Singapore’s roadmap for sustainable development over the next decade. It will require the collective action of all stakeholders to capture the opportunities, as well as meet the challenges of our transition to a net-zero future.

To facilitate that, the Singapore Government has kickstarted the Green Plan Conversations this year to engage Singaporeans from diverse backgrounds; to seek their views and generate ideas for climate action, to be realised through ground-up initiatives and collaborative platforms such as the Alliances for Action.

As we transition to a greener economy, it is also important that our workforce is not left behind. The decarbonisation movement coincides with a rapidly digitised and intelligent world, with the advent of Industry 4.0. This change, although vital, adds to the disruptions faced by workers as their companies and working environments undergo major transformations. Some traditional jobs will become redundant even as new ones are created. Are we doing all we can to help these workers transition?

In Singapore, we hope to do this by developing and deepening their skills to support the green economy and our energy transition. For example, the Singapore Management University and Imperial College Business School collaborated to launch the Singapore Green Finance Centre (SGFC), which will develop capabilities in climate science, financial economics and sustainable investing. Investing in upskilling our existing workers so that they can pivot to the new opportunities is a responsibility that extends beyond Government, and requires cooperation from business, labour organisations and the individuals themselves. At the same time, we have to train our younger generation so that we have a pipeline of future-ready talent for our green economy.

Halting and reversing climate change is part of our fight to secure our children’s future. According to a UNICEF report launched last month, approximately 1 billion children – nearly half of the world’s 2.2 billion children – live in countries identified to be at extremely high risk of impact of climate change. Future generations will have to live with the increasingly dangerous, even catastrophic, consequences of rising temperatures and nature loss.

One of Singapore’s defining characteristics in its brief history has been its willingness and commitment to act today, with tomorrow in mind. This mindset has become all the more important in dealing with the climate crisis.

Some may wonder how much can be done to influence wider global behaviour, especially by a small nation like Singapore.

We believe climate change is a global problem that needs to be addressed with a multi-lateral, rules-based approach. Singapore participates actively in global climate negotiations. We can play our part as a fair broker in forging consensus at international discussions on climate change. I am confident that what we do here in Singapore does matter and can influence others.

As the saying goes, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” We need to both figuratively and literally plant these trees. We are called to rise to this challenge.

What we do today will have a great impact on our children and future generations to come. What we do today can make a positive difference. This is our collective responsibility in stewarding our planet.

As leaders of businesses, communities, governments or civil society groups, we need to imagine a more sustainable future, and help one another to achieve it.

Many companies around the world are leveraging innovation and technology to make that sustainable future a reality. I know many of you here represent such companies.

Today, I am pleased to launch a mini documentary produced by Temasek in partnership with Mediacorp, called “Climate Trailblazers: Reimagining Our Future”. This documentary helps all of us to reimagine what that sustainable future could look like and celebrate those who are seeking to achieve it. All of us here will be the first to catch it.

I warmly welcome the efforts put in by everyone here towards our shared vision of change needed to combat our climate crisis. All of us can play a part, so celebrating changemakers is important. If their stories can catalyse others to action, you will have made an impact for the better.

I commend the team at Temasek, and all its partners who have supported the Ecosperity journey since 2014, for bringing people together around a shared vision. I hope this forum will lead to actions that help us manage this important global priority.

May we all continue to work together and accelerate progress towards a more sustainable future for all, and turn our present challenges into future opportunities.

Thank you.