Going green: We can do a lot more

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: What aspects of life and business in Singapore are least environmentally friendly? How might green technologies and/or jobs help?

John Bittleston Founder & Chair Terrific Mentors International Pte Ltd

The "haze" tops the list. It can only be solved politically and vigorous efforts are being made to achieve that. We should have been assertively converting to fully electric vehicles for several years. Our apparently increasing temperature is tiresome in a city of tall buildings. We fail to use the surfaces that could capture the sun's rays for conversion to power for better air-conditioning because solar panels have not been subsidised. This is where early subsidy can kickstart a desirable movement. We should similarly use all available surfaces for growing greenery to help balance pollution. A canopied island would solve all these problems.

Leon Perera Chief Executive Officer Spire Research and Consulting

SINGAPORE should increase public waste collection of recyclables. A concerted effort is needed to educate the public as well as ensure sufficient recycling bin volume and frequency of collection in housing estates. We should consider measures to tackle food waste in our hawker centres.

And the government should work with retailers and business chambers to encourage the purchase of sustainably manufactured products. Companies should not see being green as being solely about reducing costs for electricity, paper and other supplies, but also about the quality of supplies purchased.

Victor Mills Chief Executive Singapore International Chamber of Commerce

WE need to answer an important, challenging question: "Why can't Singapore do for waste what it has done for water?" To do so, we need to see waste as material to be re-used. The circular economy in which goods are designed and produced to be re-used makes perfect commercial and environmental sense. For a start, let's invest in R&D to redesign plastics so that they can be reused instead of poisoning our oceans. Let's make all those "recycling bins" for paper, glass and plastics real by actually recycling the contents. Let's incentivise people to recycle by rewarding the right behaviour.

Paul Henaghan President, South Asia and Korea Dell EMC

IT IS said that there will be more plastic, by weight, than fish in the oceans by 2050. As in most of Asia, Singapore has a role to play in this epidemic. In 2015, Singapore generated 824,600 tonnes of plastic waste, a major part resulting from packaging waste alone. As we strive for a greener ecosystem, technology is paramount in driving this change.

Innovative technologies and a sense of corporate responsibility create new opportunities for waste reduction. For instance, extracting ocean-bound plastic waste and repurposing it into our product packaging is one way Dell is addressing the issue of mismanaged waste entering the ocean. With the right motivation, all organisations can reduce their environmental footprint and stem the plastic tide.

Helen Ng Chief Executive Officer General Storage Company Pte Ltd

SMEs in Singapore are not going paperless fast enough. The civil service has led the way with its electronic invoice system but some banks and government agencies are still sending out hard-copy letters whenever we change our passwords or update our personal particulars in the system. Banks should auto-include their customers in electronic statement schemes.

Customers should be given the choice to opt out rather than opt in. The forms industry has evolved to offer sophisticated electronic statement solutions with security features - more businesses should adopt these solutions.

Mark Billington Regional Director ICAEW South East Asia

IN many aspects of life and business, growth is often prioritised over the environment. Given our finite resources, we cannot afford to ignore the resulting effects on the environment. With the introduction of sustainability reporting by the Singapore Exchange for all listed companies, environmental issues must be brought in to the boardroom.

Businesses will be reporting on a "comply or explain" basis from 2018, meaning that companies will be accountable for their impact on society and the environment. Having accurate and reliable data strengthens the credibility of sustainable policies, demonstrates real business commitment to this ethos and ensures the processes are embedded at the heart of the business.

The role of chartered accountants and sustainability reporting will therefore help change the actions of the least environmentally friendly businesses across Singapore.

Edwin Khew Teck Fook President The Institution of Engineers, Singapore

SINGAPORE can do better in recycling. Our domestic waste recycling rate has stagnated at about 20 per cent, despite introduction of the National Recycling Programme 16 years ago. Many HDB and condominium dwellers choose the convenience of using in-house refuse chutes over recycling bins. Believing that everything will be incinerated anyway, most Singaporeans are also not motivated to recycle.

A huge percentage of potential recyclables are contaminated with food waste, rendering them non-reusable. While green technologies are important, Singapore's household recycling issue requires education, clear guidelines, incentives and even mandates, to change mindsets and entrenched practices as simple as segregating wet from dry waste to make further sorting and treatment feasible.

Damien Dhellemmes Country President Singapore Schneider Electric

BUSINESSES in Singapore are often looking for ways to reduce their energy consumption and waste generation, not just to reduce their carbon footprint, but also because it helps them to save money. For example, green technology can help save huge amounts of energy - and costs - simply by enabling us to automate lights and heating, making infrastructure and facilities greener and more sustainable than ever.

Additionally, we can also think of ways to generate our energy differently - the Renewable Energy Integration Demonstrator-Singapore (REIDS) initiative, for instance, is South-east Asia's first micro-grid that will integrate and distribute power from multiple energy sources, including fossil fuels as well as renewable energy.

Max Loh Asean and Singapore Managing Partner EY

AS a resource-scarce and highly urbanised city state, it is vital that Singapore manages its waste, water and energy resources in environmentally responsible ways. Food, freshwater and construction wastage and inefficiencies by individuals, businesses and industries - a by-product of our increasingly affluent lifestyles, real estate churn and demand, and high dependency on private transport - are creating increased emissions and costs of disposal management.

We need to constantly seek out viable green technologies, smarter urban solutions and fiscal incentives that promote green innovation, adoption and job creation. Equally important is to embed environmental sustainability into our way of life and education for a more enduring and counterbalancing impact on the environmental pressures that invariably result from the pursuit of economic activities.

Matthew Johnston Area Vice-President, ASEAN & Korea Commvault APAC

IN Singapore's drive towards becoming a Smart Nation, the volume of data will only continue to grow. Managing data in increasingly complex hybrid IT infrastructure environments, while reducing digital waste and elevating data management and disaster recovery practices, presents challenges and opportunities for companies today. Adopting effective cloud-based backup and recovery services is an eco-friendly IT model that companies can use to reduce their existing storage and carbon footprint. In addition, businesses can outsource these services to software-as-a-service providers, improving operational efficiency, while ensuring data is protected and accessible.

Martin Nordenstahl Vice-President Abbott, Pacific Asia

DESPITE limited natural resources, Singapore has ensured that water and other precious resources are easily accessible today. But it's important for all of us - businesses, organisations and individuals - to help conserve resources for tomorrow. At Abbott, we've put our people at the centre of our work to safeguard the environment; employees across Singapore are encouraged to share ideas on how we can save water and energy. Taken together with the use of smart technologies, these efforts have helped us reduce water use by 35 per cent and energy consumption by 30 per cent since 2010.

Yeo Kong Nee Managing Director ENGIE Services Singapore

FOR a start, we can turn up the office thermostat by at least one degree! We will still feel as comfortable without the need for sweaters and jackets, and save electricity! Singapore already has policies and guidelines in place to help businesses be energy efficient, but to push this one notch higher, we must convert individuals into influencers on this green drive.

In support of the Paris climate agreement, ENGIE is committed to build a low carbon economy through decarbonisation; this imperative is driving all aspects of our business operations and turning our employees into green ambassadors in the process. We can help more businesses join this movement.

Heng Wui Liang Country Head for Singapore BankBazaar

IN the financial services industry, a lot of processes still require paperwork today. For instance, to apply for a banking product, one may still need to complete a paper application form and submit this along with multiple printouts of supporting documents.

Through digitisation, we can significantly reduce the use of paper and at the same time, create a better customer experience. BankBazaar believes in an online paperless future and we have created a financial marketplace, working alongside financial institutions, to achieve this vision.

Lee Siang Chief Executive Officer Dyslexia Association of Singapore

ONE of the most common environmentally unfriendly practices in workplaces is printing and photocopying. Unfortunately, not all organisations are making a deliberate effort to "go paperless", which can save cost and increase efficiency. At the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS), there is an ongoing effort to "go paperless" in all our administrative activities. We encourage Giro payment for fees rather than using cash or cheques. In our classrooms, we also encourage using tablets and smartboards for lesson activities rather than paper worksheets. We offer downloadable handouts and PowerPoint slides for lectures and seminars. Apart from "green technologies" adoption, there are still many simple things organisations can do to become more environmentally friendly.

Christophe Duchatellier CEO, Asia Pacific The Adecco Group

SINGAPORE is one of the cleanest cities in the world but it does have some less environmentally friendly aspects such as the widespread use of plastic in the form of grocery bags and takeaway boxes, high energy use per capita and a high number of motor vehicles on the roads. While green technologies such as green fuels, electric vehicles and efficient appliances can help alleviate some of these issues, having more green jobs can foster a sustainable mindset in everyday life which, too, would go a long way. Moreover, many of these green jobs such as energy auditors, environmental engineers, vertical gardening architects, water conservationists and sustainability specialists are new and emerging jobs of the future and could provide significant employment opportunities.

Lee Fook Chiew Chief Executive Officer Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (ISCA)

THERE are certain aspects in which Singapore can be more environmentally-friendly, for instance, in reducing the use of styrofoam packaging. Nevertheless, Singapore is doing well in other areas, such as the development of green buildings and the move by Singapore Exchange (SGX) to mandate all listed companies to publish sustainability reports on a "comply or explain" basis. Sustainability reporting is an impetus for sustainable practices. It requires businesses to be conscious and mindful of the need to have sustainable business practices, and provides a more level playing field from increased transparency in these areas among listed companies. The accountancy profession holds an important role in the sustainability reporting ecosystem, with CFOs being pivotal in spearheading quality sustainability reports in their organisations. With this in mind, ISCA established the Corporate Reporting Committee in 2016 to work with stakeholders, including SGX, to champion, and provide guidance on the adoption of, sustainability reporting.

John Keung Chief Executive Officer Building and Construction Authority

WITH buildings in Singapore consuming more than a third of our nation's electricity, it is critical to green our buildings and to engage building users to adopt energy-efficient practices. BCA's Green Building Masterplan and Green Mark schemes aim to influence building owners and users towards these goals. Recently, we developed BCA SkyLab, the world's first high-rise rotatable test laboratory to test-bed ground-breaking research and innovation that can be translated into cost-effective green building solutions for the tropics. Our long-term aspiration is to have Positive Energy Low rise, Zero Energy Medium rise and Super Low Energy High rise buildings throughout Singapore. To raise awareness among building users of green living practices, BCA has a series of outreach activities, such as the Build it Green (BiG) Day Out in June and BCA's annual Singapore Green Building Week in September.

Alexandre Parilusyan Vice-President, 3DEXPERIENCity Dassault Systèmes

SINGAPORE has made tremendous progress in its green efforts. It is consistently placed among the top 20 countries globally in the Environmental Performance Index. Nevertheless, much remains to be done as it continues on its "green path". Next step towards a more sustainable city is to look to more imagination and innovation. We are currently transitioning from a resource-based economy to a more experience-based one. An economy in which the way we use and experience a product has more value than the product itself. This means we can look to digital technologies to make advancement in areas like energy transition, sustainable mobility, and in the creation of intelligent environments designed to satisfy the evolving needs of the urban citizens. Solutions that can simulate real-world experiences that help people foresee the impact of their decisions, and allow them to make necessary, eco-friendlier adjustments.

Boon Liang Seng Director, Southeast Asia Lutron Electronics

AS a sustainability advocate, Lutron regards the overconsumption of electricity as the biggest environmental threat. With lighting in a commercial building contributing up to 21 per cent of electricity usage, technology that provides total light management can reduce cost and energy. By using dimmers in a residential or commercial space, the energy cost of lighting can be reduced by up to 40 per cent and the lifespan of lightbulbs extended by 20 times if dimmed by 50 per cent. Furthermore, daylight harvesting - the automatic adjustment of lights when sufficient daylight is present - allows an office to save up to 60 per cent on energy costs.

Jayaprakash Jagateesan Chief Executive Officer RHT Holdings Pte Ltd

GIVEN our high level of urbanisation and consumption, vehicular emissions as well as all kinds of wastes and excesses arising from our consumer society remain our key challenges.

Nonetheless, Singaporeans and the Singapore government are working hard to accelerate the innovation and adoption of sustainability policies and solutions. For example, the government has proposed and introduced countering measures like the new Vehicular Emissions Scheme as well as a carbon tax. It is encouraging that more clean energy companies have sprung up over the past years in response to Singapore's push for innovation in areas such as clean energy, smart grids and energy management systems to lower energy consumption and reduce operational costs.

Still, I believe much more can and should be done. Environmental awareness is something we champion and is very close to our hearts. Our team at RHT Digital & Media has teamed up with Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore to develop a media campaign that culminates in an award called RE:NEW that recognises emerging innovators, active adopters and breakthrough innovations in environmental sustainability. Via these initiatives, we aim to work with our clients and stakeholders to bring greater awareness towards renewable energy and sustainability solutions that reduce our collective carbon footprint.

Dileep Nair Independent Director Keppel DC REIT Management Pte Ltd

FOOD wastage is one aspect of life in Singapore that I find most environmentally unfriendly. Some 800,000 tonnes of food are discarded a year, of which barely 13 per cent is recycled. Since water, energy and other resources are needed to produce food, food thrown away represents wasted resources. Preventing and reducing food wastage at source through education and incentives is an obvious step.

This includes innovative methods of charging for smaller portions of cooked foods as well as marking down prices of "ugly" foods that may not look perfect but are nutritionally fine. Better and more widespread methods should be found to distribute excess food to charities, including giving tax breaks to organisations that do the storage and distribution. Finally, more extensive use should be made of composting and mulching to convert food waste into fertiliser for our garden city. This should involve HDB estates, schools, army camps and even landed properties with gardens.

Choe Peng Sum CEO Frasers Hospitality Group

THE hospitality sector is a manifestation of our daily lives. Hotels and serviced apartments provide multiple touchpoints where guests, employees and management can all contribute towards creating a sustainable society.

From switching on the lights to sourcing ingredients for dinner, little actions in an everyday routine translate to a significant drain on natural resources. This is where at Frasers Hospitality we understand industry efforts need to go beyond basic green housekeeping operations such as giving guests the option to reuse bed linen or towels.

This is why we have revamped one of our brands to focus on green living and have introduced provincially sourced amenities and artwork, sustainably sourced furnishings and healthy meals carefully prepared with fresh local produce to help create a better environment. Demonstrating our continued support for global environmental sustainability awareness, Frasers Hospitality was also the first partner in WWF Earth Hour's "Just One" hotels programme.

Annie Chia Head iWheel4Fun (Subsidiary of Singapore Cruise Centre Travel Services)

WE do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. This Native American proverb suggests that environmental consciousness is also an individual responsibility. Our transportation choices will have a significant impact on our consumption of energy and its corresponding emissions. The recent passing of the Active Mobility Bill in Parliament is a significant milestone in Singapore. This is because it legitimises use of bicycles and green technologies such as personal mobility devices (PMDs) as a mode of transport. More importantly, it will push Singapore closer to becoming a car-lite society.

At iWheel4Fun, Singapore's largest active mobility carnival and PMD community organisation, the rise in awareness and usage of PMDs is encouraging and one that will play an important role in preserving the planet.

Goh Swee Chen Chairman Shell Companies in Singapore

WITH rapid urbanisation and global population growth, our roads and ports are becoming increasingly busy. In Singapore, one of the key concerns will be managing the increasing demand for transport while tackling emissions - both on the roads and the seas.

One of the solutions is liquefied natural gas fuel, a cleaner-burning alternative to diesel in trucks and heavy fuel oil in shipping. Last year, Shell and its joint venture partner, Keppel Offshore and Marine, were awarded an LNG bunkering licence by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.

The joint venture, FueLNG Pte Ltd, has established an LNG bunkering business which will supply LNG as a fuel to ships and other marine vessels in the Singapore port, contributing to local emission reduction efforts. Globally, Shell is also exploring LNG as a transport fuel for trucks and trains, as well as the mining sector and industrial applications. Internationally, we opened a new technology hub in Bangalore last month to explore greener innovations - which may ultimately be applied to our Singapore business as well.

V R Srivatsan Managing Director, SEA Adobe

DID you know that Singapore generated about 576,000 tonnes of paper waste last year? It may seem logical to encourage employees and customers to print less, and hope for the best; but that doesn't mean anything unless organisations provide the tools and infrastructure to facilitate the effort. Reducing paper waste needs to go beyond the basics and be integrated with business goals and organisational culture. As our society goes digital, organisations that adopt cloud-based workflows and document management will lead the way to significant reductions in paper waste. In 2016 alone, Adobe Sign transacted 46 million electronic documents worldwide, saving more than 17 million pounds of wood and 53 million gallons of water.

In addition, Adobe has also seen significant sustainability gains from our move to the cloud applications model, eliminating the environmental impacts associated with physical software manufacturing, packaging and distribution. For example, our estimates show that in 2014, two million customers reduced their carbon emissions by 70 per cent by subscribing to Adobe Creative Cloud.

Lionel Ch'ng Managing Director HP Inc Singapore

THERE is huge potential for us to reinvent manufacturing through Industry 4.0. The on-demand nature achieved through new technologies like additive manufacturing and immersive computing makes supply chains more efficient. Digitising the shipment of goods and producing finished products nearer the point of consumption can reduce carbon emissions. On-demand production also eliminates production waste and saves energy.

Besides manufacturing, businesses can be more sustainable in their office and retail operations by leveraging technologies designed for the environment; for example, HP's high-speed PageWide printers and JetIntelligence toner cartridges are designed to be a lot more energy efficient. They can also participate in e-waste collection drives to contribute to recycling. Recovered content can in turn be used to manufacture supplies such as HP print cartridges. Today, 80 per cent of Original HP ink cartridges and 100 per cent of Original HP toner cartridges are made with recycled content.

David Leong Managing Director PeopleWorldwide Consulting Pte Ltd

I SEE two major areas where Singapore is particularly environmentally unfriendly. It has been more than 12 years now since the BCA Green Mark Scheme was launched in January 2005 as an initiative to drive Singapore's construction industry towards more environmentally-friendly buildings. The objective is to promote sustainability in the built environment and to raise environmental awareness among developers, designers and builders from project conceptualisation and design, as well as during construction. To date, even with our largest developer HDB, green buildings and flats are not a norm but a novelty.

With today's technology and location-based GPS, we still rely on paper coupons for time-based car parking charges, which is most environmentally unfriendly.

Notwithstanding the fact that Singapore hopes to be an environmentally friendly, energy independent Smart Nation, we still have plenty of gaps to fill to meet that aspiration.

Johan de Villiers Managing Director Singapore and South-east Asia ABB

THE way we make, move and consume energy, and especially electrical energy, presents one of the biggest opportunities to reduce environmental impact. The fact that 80 per cent of energy generated by fossil fuels is lost before it reaches the end-consumer means there is enormous potential for savings and the best way to make the most of this opportunity is to make energy inefficiency visible. Digitalisation helps us to do this.

Measuring, trending and benchmarking energy efficiency in all walks of life and across all sectors will put information right at the centre of consumers. For example, intelligent building systems typically cut energy consumption by half, while digital control systems can intelligently help ship-owners derive energy efficiency gains from both equipment on the vessels and by optimising shipping routes. Understanding consumption patterns gives us the power to change behaviours and to deploy the right technologies (most of which already exist) to deliver energy savings across utilities, infrastructure, industries and cities on a grand scale. The starting point, and the key to driving efficiency, is therefore information and turning that into action.

Tan Yoong Heng Singapore Office Leader Arup

TRANSPORT remains a significant contributor to carbon emission, and we are seeing the government encourage a more car-lite society. A key element of this is making Singapore more walkable. For example, Arup has worked on projects to enhance active mobility around Marina Bay, including the Jubilee and Helix bridges that close the pedestrian loop in the precinct, and making the civic district more pedestrian-friendly. We have also been involved in improving first-and-last-mile connectivity to the public rail network.

More importantly, the impact of increased walkability in Singapore goes beyond the environment. Our research shows that a more walkable Singapore would also encourage transport efficiency, social cohesion, health and well-being, and economic productivity, among others.

Lim Soon Hock Managing Director PLAN-B ICAG Pte Ltd

THE biggest challenge to protect Gaia is getting every consumer to not only consume environmentally friendly products, but to participate in and contribute to the recycling of such products, in the way each of us live, work and play. The government, businesses and the community have a vital role to play to continue to invest in public education, promote and instill this social discipline of being environmentally friendly.

When more consumers demand greener products, businesses will be more compelled to be more environmentally friendly. Perhaps governments can consider a green tax to be imposed on non-environmentally friendly products and on businesses that manufacture such products. Conversely, tax incentives, much like carbon credits, can be granted to businesses that are environmentally friendly, and for the consumption of green products.

Toby Koh Group Managing Director Ademco Security Group

HOW many companies actually use technology to cut down on emissions and save our planet despite the often loud cry to do so? We are proud to have clients who use our Remote Managed Security Services with the clear intention to help save the environment. With remote video surveillance technology deployed over Singapore's Next Generation Fiber network, we can immediately verify alarm conditions and eliminate the age-old practice of sending a security officer in a vehicle to site. No more unnecessary vehicular emissions and wastage of resources. This is a critical reason why one of our major banking clients chose to use our Central Monitoring And Command Centre instead of deploying mobile security guards.

Cloud technology and smartphones have helped in the reduction of paper usage. Ademco saves over 40 trees a year by going paperless with our cloud platform. We need to urge all companies to look into the use of technology to help save our Earth in small ways.

Bert Wong Chief Executive Officer Fuji Xerox Singapore

WHILE going green may not be a priority to some businesses, incorporating sustainable and resource-efficient practices can significantly improve profitability through improved cost savings on necessities such as operational utilities and supplies. According to a UN Global Compact-Accenture study in 2016, close to 90 per cent of CEOs say a commitment to sustainability has translated into real impact for their industries. At Fuji Xerox, we ensure that sustainability is in every step of our value chain - from procurement and manufacturing, to recycling. We also help customers achieve optimum sustainability scores, while driving employee and resource-efficiency. For instance, we deployed a managed print ecosystem to optimise the printing fleet of Arcadis' office in Singapore from 32 to 18 print devices in 2015, which resulted in lower energy costs and reduced print wastage.

Zaheer K Merchant Regional Director (Singapore & Europe) QI Group of Companies

WHILE Singapore has a credible claim to be at the forefront of practising environment conservation in business or home dwellings, some perennial offenders prove hard to eliminate or, at least, attenuate.

In offices, usage of non-biodegradable materials, electricity and paper continues to be high. In homes, high consumption of water has prompted the government to raise the price of water. Green technologies/jobs go a long way to address these problems by promoting environmentally friendly practices to set the trend for companies to follow.

When companies adopt them, the resulting "greening effect", cost reduction and brand image enhancement become motivating factors for sustaining these practices.

There is also much talk about environmental management accounting which, if formalised in practice, will lead to greater disclosure on companies' environmental information impact, and thereby provide greater impetus to driving corporate green activities.