Governments need to step up as world falls behind on climate goals: ISWA panel
Janice Lim
IN THE face of a world falling behind on its various sustainability targets, there are calls for governments to do more by putting in place the right type of policies and drivers to get companies and individuals in line.
Speaking at a panel discussion during the second day of the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) World Congress, Steve Peters, senior energy specialist at the Asian Development Bank, said that there is a lack in governance, especially in pricing the costs of some economic activities. One example is to put a price on carbon.
While he recognised that governments have different abilities and wealth to make such legislations, he believes that more work can be done to set up a structure which allows companies to take advantage of that cost, and find revenue opportunities from it.
Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Amy Khor, who participated in the panel on Thursday (Sep 22), said that the role of governments is to create the conditions conducive for a green economy to develop.
One way of incentivising companies is by sending the right price signal of the high environmental costs for unsustainable practices. Imposing a carbon tax is one such method of putting a price to carbon.
Singapore is so far the only country among member states of the Association of South East Asian Nations to institute a carbon tax. It is currently at S$5 for each tonne of greenhouse gas emissions, with plans to increase it to S$25 per tonne in 2024, with a view to reach S$50 to S$80 per tonne by 2030.
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Khor also said that governments can help companies and investors to get the right data to make informed investment decisions by harmonising definitions and standards that would help in comparing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) data between different corporates.
With the right standards, the different sectors would be able to get on the same page and have a view of the horizon they should follow, said Carlos Silva Filho, president of ISWA.
However, he added that governments should go beyond that and enforce those standards to get companies to change their practices.
“Because the worst-case scenario is when you have high standards, some of the companies follow the high standards and others fall behind but continue in the market,” he said.
Sharing her experience doing business in Indonesia, Noni Purnomo, president commissioner of transport company PT Blue Bird, said that many companies either do not have the knowledge and expertise to even embark on transition strategies, or they find that it is too costly.
Panellists agree that speed is of the essence, as many climate and human impact goals that have been set are still far from reach.
Khor noted that the chance of global temperatures rising beyond the 1.5 degree Celsius limit by 2050, as set out in the Paris Agreement, is “very, very high”.
Filho also said that the world has fallen behind on many of the Sustainable Development Goals, which are a collection of 17 goals set up in 2015 by the United Nations, and intended to be achieved by 2030.
Nonetheless, this does not mean that sticking to business-as-usual is an option.
“We have to have a managed process. We need to be able to identify what are the low-hanging fruit... My view is we should not be looking to find champions. We should be getting everybody on board, especially those who are disenfranchised,” said Peters.
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