Singapore must abandon ‘use and throw culture’, invest now for future sustainability: Grace Fu
TO STAY sustainable, Singapore must move away from its “use and throw culture”, and make long-term investments today in areas such as coastal protection and food security, said Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu in Parliament on Thursday (Apr 20).
Alongside the energy transition and adapting to climate change, this rejection of the “buy-use-throw consumption model” is a major change Singapore must make, said Fu on the fourth day of the debate on the President’s Address.
In this, all groups in society must play their part, she said. Consumers can shop with resuable bags and recycle packaging, while businesses can redesign processes to reduce waste.
Industries can shape consumer behaviour by pricing in environmental costs, and the Government can nudge behaviour through policies such as refundable deposits for drink packaging.
The minister gave examples of how businesses, community groups, and the Government have collaborated for sustainability. Foodtech startup Crust Group turns surplus food from other companies into beer and sodas, while a community in Tampines installed a machine to turn food waste into nutrients for vegetable farming and landscaping.
Such collaborations show how Singapore’s sustainability journey can be guided by its social compact, said Fu. This is at three levels – between the individual and others, across social groups, and across generations.
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Singapore’s intergenerational approach to climate change can be seen, for instance, in coastal protection measures. These investments are multi-generational ones that will take decades to complete, but must start now “if we are to successfully meet this long-term future challenge”, said Fu.
The intergenerational compact is similarly visible in food security, said Fu, with Singapore’s target to produce 30 per cent of its food locally by 2030. This is to “buy insurance against systemic food supply disruption” amid extreme weather events, geopolitical tensions and disease outbreaks, for future generations.
Achieving this requires sustained contributions from the private, people and public sectors, she added. As local producers ramp up supply, consumers and industry buyers must provide demand to ensure their commercial viability: “By building our local food production today, we are gaining food security tomorrow.”
“Building a resilient future requires investment today,” she summed up.
Singapore must make long-term investments in capability building and “sow the seeds for a broad spectrum of innovation and technological solutions” which includes using low-carbon energy; improving understanding of climate science and regional impacts; and collectively changing consumption and living habits.
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