Issue 231  | 23 December 2018
express
A Climate of Hope and Renewal
There's always hope. There's also relief. Most nations of the world accept responsibility and are prepared to act to bring down greenhouse gas emissions to a level that makes life on earth bearable, if not ideal.
We could go on about the not altogether convincing display of "unity" at this year's Climate Change Conference in Poland which ended on Saturday 15 December. But instead we will give you a digest of reports - and recognition of the major role mainstream media and its online partners have played - which sum up for us the year past and give you, dear reader, some additional insights into the State of the World as its stands on the eve of Christmas 2018:
  • Singapore: Climate of Change was a six months' journey through different parts the world by Straits Times' journalists to record the impacts of climate change. In our view, the best example of climate change media coverage we've seen over the last ten years. Special credit to David Fogarty, who anchored the reporting team, and Audrey Tan, who also attended the Katowice event. Together they produced this excellent summary at the conference conclusion.
  • Australia: We've relied mainly on two online media - RenewEconomy and The Fifth Estate - to give us in depth understanding on important issues and opportunities, with a strong emphasis on clean energy developments and the property sector, most notably green building. Renew Economy Editor Giles Parkinson and The Fifth Estate Editor Tina Perinotto.
  • Europe: The Guardian consistently gives us verifiable reports from around the world, including this scary Portrait of a planet on the verge of climate catastrophe. We also value the reporting of Sky News - most notably for its long running campaign Ocean Rescue - and the BBC for giving us reliable news everyday and for making sure we see plenty of the world's greatest environmental champion Sir David Attenborough. Then there's The Economist which came up with this on Poland.
  • North America: Many online, broadcast and print sources provide us with the very necessary insight into climate, energy and environment. Scientific American gave us this report on forests. David Suzuki keeps us posted from Canada, while Greenbiz is up with the best. Even the New York Times can come up trumps with its version of the Year in Review.
We could go on and I'm sure we've left someone out. But read on through the rest of this issue. Much more to sample and absorb. Now it's left to wish all our readers - wherever you are in the world - a very Happy Christmas and a New Year full of Hope, Peace and Love.

Ken Hickson, Managing Editor, ABC Carbon Express.
What's in the Wind for Southeast Asia?
Renewable Energy Could Replace Coal as the Primary Source of Power in ASEAN
By Ken Hickson
The answer to Southeast Asia’s problematic energy transition could well be blowing in the wind. But don’t ignore other sources of renewable energy, like solar, hydro and biomass, which are in the mix to help remove coal from its leadership position.
As Southeast Asia’s leading wind energy developer The Blue Circle has discovered, it is not easy to get large-scale renewable energy projects off the ground and up and running. It’s been a five year process to get the 15 turbine Dam Nai Project completed in the Ninh Thuan Province, South Vietnam. 
Read about the role played by other private sector clean energy champions Armstrong Asset Management, Sindacatum and Infraco. Will investment and development happen faster now that IRENA is working with ASEAN on renewable energy? The full story is here.
Finance for Renewable Energy in Asia
To Help Wean Southeast Asia off its Coal Dependency, the UK is investing in Green Finance & Energy Efficiency
"The South East Asia Low Carbon Energy Programme (2019-2022), funded by the UK’s Prosperity Fund, will shortly roll out in six countries in the region—Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Having discussed needs with the governments concerned, we are focusing on two areas—green finance and energy efficiency." This from Camilla Fenning, the UK’s Head of the South East Asia Climate and Energy Network in an interview with Brink Asia. Read the full story here.
Timber! The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Protection & Detection.
It was a clear demonstration of the importance of IT in supporting traceability for sustainable supply chains. One of the key outcomes of this PEFC seminar at the  Singapore Sustainability Academy . It brought together people and organisations involved in utilising technologies for sustainable forest management and responsible trade. All towards enabling detection of illegal logging operations, unchecked deforestation and preventing the deprivation of sustainable livelihood opportunities for small holders and local communities. Read more
International House wins. At an impressive gala dinner with over 1000 attendees, the jury of the  World Architecture Festival  (WAF) awarded the PEFC-supported Best Use of Certified Timber Prize to I nternational House in Sydney , which was designed by  Tzannes  architecture and built by  Lendlease  with PEFC-certified cross laminated timber (CLT) supplied by  Stora Enso . With its seven floors, the International House is the world’s tallest all‐commercial building constructed fully from engineered timber. A celebration for architects and timber. Read all about it on The Fifth Estate.
Białowieski Forest. One of Poland’s greatest weapons in the fight for a better climate is one of its natural resources – forests. Poland's forestation is steadily increasing. In less than 10 years from 1995 to 2004, it managed to increase the area of forests by 5040 sq. km. Every year half a billion trees are planted in Poland. An example of how a natural potential could be developed and used to absorb greenhouse gas emissions. The declaration corresponds with the objective of the Paris Agreement to achieve a balance between greenhouse gas emissions from sources and their absorption by sinks. There's more.
Poland's Pollution Predicament
“There is no strategy to fully phase out coal in Poland today,” said Polish President Andrzej Duda at the U.N. climate conference. “We have supplies for 200 years and it would be difficult for us to give up coal — thanks to which we have energy sovereignty.” Yet there are moves in the country to get off the coal bandwagon. Michal Wilczynski is a geologist, energy analyst and former government adviser. He says coal’s days are numbered in Poland — not just because of Europe’s drive to reduce carbon emissions, but because the industry is old-fashioned and barely profitable. The government needs to live in the future, he said, not the past.  Read the full story from the Washington Post by William Booth and Magdalena Foremska.
Reduce Meat & Dairy to Meet Climate Goals
The livestock sector could use almost half of the 1.5˚C greenhouse gas emission budget allowed by 2030, so addressing this should be a key part of the strategy to hit climate targets, according to a new study published in  Climate Policy .
Dr Helen Harwatt, farmed animal law and policy fellow at Harvard Law School, advises that getting protein from plant sources instead of animal sources would drastically help in meeting climate targets and reduce the risk of overshooting temperature goals. For the first time,  Dr Harwatt proposes a three-step strategy  to gradually replace animal proteins with plant-sourced proteins, as part of the commitment to mitigate climate change. These are:
  • Acknowledging that current numbers of livestock are at their peak and will need to decline (‘peak livestock’).
  • Set targets to transition away from livestock products starting with foods linked with the highest greenhouse gas emissions such as beef, then cow’s milk and pig meat (‘worst-first’ approach).
  • Assessing suitable replacement products against a range of criteria including greenhouse gas emission targets, land usage, and public health benefits (‘best available food’ approach). Read more
Cities of Love Awards 2018
A holistic approach to loving our cities.
The organisers and judges of the second Cities of Love Awards - or COLA for short - are looking for actions or initiatives that have resulted in positive social, economic or environmental impact. Projects should be submitted under ONE of the following three categories:
  • SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: Building A Society That Lasts
  • ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY: Building A Well-Sustained Economy
  • ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: Building A Healthy Environment

COLA was initiated by Inception, which was formed in Singapore in August 2010, by Valerie Ang and Tai Lee Siang, co-authors of the book "Cities of Love". See who won last year and decide on which of the categories best suit you. Cities of Love Awards are supported by Green in Future, SASA, ABC Carbon, The Hickson Team and The Avenue for Creative Arts.  Read More
Report from UN Global Compact 2018
At the Global Compact Network Singapore (GCNS) Annual Summit in November
we heard from:
  • Professor Tommy Koh, diplomat extraordinaire, who expressed his extreme disappointment that the world has done little in 26 years to turn around the environmental damage its inflicted on itself, since he chaired the first Rio Earth Summit Conference in June 1992.
  • Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who called for business to take the initiative to craft sustainable strategies that yield long-term returns and for governments to work together with business and citizens to achieve sustainability.
  • Ms. Lise Kingo CEO & Executive Director UN Global Compact, who  spoke of the challenge for business to help make the Sustainable Development Goals a reality. It is time for all stakeholders to carry the torch forward and contribute to the realisation of that vision — for people and for the planet.
  • John Roome, Senior Director for Climate Change at the World Bank, announced the formation of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC), supported by the World Bank, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide through ambitious carbon pricing.
Smart and Sustainable Business Initiatives
Committed to Renewable Energy, Sustainability and Social Enterprise.
DBS has just won The Banker’s Global Bank of the Year award to add to its win of Global Finance’s Best Bank in the World in August – making it the first Asian bank to attain this achievement. Earlier in the year, Euromoney also named DBS the World’s Best Digital Bank and the World’s Best Bank for SMEs. At home and abroad DBS keeps winning awards and international recognition for being sustainable as well as committed to renewable energy and social enterprises. It was a big winner in the recent APEX Sustainability Awards and is the only Singapore business to join RE100, the international alliance of companies committed to go to 100% renewable energy.. Ken Hickson asked three pertinent questions and received some well informed answers from Mike Power, Chief Operating Officer, Technology & Operations, DBS Bank. Read all about it here.
Opening a brand new office got Jerome Audais, Managing Director of KONE Singapore very excited. "Globally, Singapore is the gateway for green building and technology in Asia Pacific and we are proud to be a market leader in supporting the country’s position." One of their innovations is the KONE Ultra rope, which uses carbon fibre instead of steel. Looking like a flat piece of black licorice, this is a completely new approach to elevator hoisting. Made of a carbon fibre core surrounded by a unique high-friction coating, it weighs only about a fifth of a similar conventional steel rope. Just one way to be more efficient. Read more about KONE.
Already this year Air New Zealand has removed single-use plastic straws, stir sticks, eye mask wrappers and plastic toothbrushes from lounges and on board aircraft. Over a 12 month period the airline will reduce its plastic footprint by 260,000 plastic toothbrushes, 3,000 straws, 7.1 million stirrers and 260,000 eye mask wrappers.
All part of a wider programme aimed at reducing the airline's use of plastic, supported by the Ministry for the Environment, which has identified lower impact alternatives and aligning its end-of life solutions to New Zealand's existing facilities, recycling and composting capabilities. Read more here.
Launched by technology group Wärtsilä , ‘An Oceanic Awakening’ is focused on the radical transformation of the world’s marine and energy industry, making it ecologically sound and a digitally connected ecosystem. As consumer demand increases, maritime businesses are faced with major opportunities to improve operational inefficiencies that impose impacts on profitability and sustainability. Better port-to-port fuel efficiency and reduced congestion in ports and high traffic areas have become critical to transforming maritime trading today. Here's more on Ocean Awakening.
Focus on Sustainable Development Goal: No 2
Can we feed a future population of 10 billion people a healthy diet within planetary boundaries?
EAT Foundation gathered 37 of the planet’s foremost experts who, for the first time ever, propose scientific targets for what constitutes a healthy diet from a sustainable food system. Their report will launch in mid-January 2019. Food systems are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. They are the main user of fresh water, a leading driver of biodiversity loss, land-use change and cause eutrophication or dead zones in lakes and coastal areas. Simultaneously, unhealthy diets are the leading risk factor for disease worldwide, causing rapidly growing rates of diabetes, heart disease and cancers. Vast global under-nutrition is adding mounting pressure to these challenges. In other words, how we grow, process, transport, consume and waste food is hurting both people and planet. The EAT-Lancet Commission is setting scientific targets for healthy diets and food production. These targets define a safe operating space that ensures human health and environmental sustainability. More from the EAT Foundation here.
Odds & Ends for a Carbon-Neutral Christmas
GOOD NEWS
  • Tracking and ending the trade in illegal wild-life involves money – and the expertise of people in banking and finance – so the head of Deloitte’s Asia Pacific financial crime network is involved. Tim Phillips is on the case.
  • Trees are coming into vogue in a big way. National University of Singapore is committed to plant 10,000 new trees on campus over the next three years, nurturing 9500 saplings in its own nursery and bringing in 500 mature trees.
  • The tiny Pacific Island of Palau is banning “reef toxic” sunscreens in what is described as a world-first initiative to stop polluting chemicals on the beach and in the sea.
  • James Dyson, the enterprising home appliance inventor is going to manufacture electric cars in Singapore, employing 400 people and committed to spend S$3.6 billion.
  • Nespresso aims to use sustainable aluminium in all its coffee capsules by 2020 under a deal with mining giant Rio Tinto. Already Nespresso takes back the used capsules and recycles the material and the coffee remains.
  • Plastic straws are being banned as they’re very bad for the oceans. If you must have a straw to drink with, go for bamboo, glass or metal. All re-usable of course.
  • Philippine Government plans to clean up Manila Bay – described by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu as a “magnified cesspool”, adopting some of the same measures used to reform the polluted Boracay resort island.
  • Liquified Christmas Trees in Montreal? Yes, they’re brewing a beer from the spruce tree. Following an ancient indigenous practice, as the pine needles contain high amounts of Vitamin C.
  • Scientists no longer have the climate change research and reporting to themselves. Novelists have got in on the act. “Cli-Fi” is taking off but it’s not exactly new. Arguably, the first was J.G.Ballard with his 1962 work “The Drowned World”.
  • Then there’s Australian novelist Tim Winton who actively campaigns for all things environmental as well as on human rights issues. Hear him on BBC Hard Talk.
  • Nobel Prize winner and 1997 Australian of the Year Peter Doherty included climate change - and related issues and solutions – in “A Light History of Hot Air”. We’re looking forward to what he’s written in his latest: “The Incidental Tourist”.
  • OECD produces a lot of big and often boring reports, but its latest on Building Resilient Cities: An Assessment of Disaster Risk Management Policies in Southeast Asia is well worth looking into as Asian cities are particularly vulnerable to risks associated with natural disasters.

Last Word: European Infuence on the World
Sun Shines on Spain: Among the many things Spain has in its favour is that the sun shines a lot more there than most places in Europe. Besides capitalising on the sun to grow fruit and vegetables - and produce wine - Spain is committed to getting 100% of its energy from renewables. Already Spain leads the world in the production of thermoelectric solar energy. Read all about it.
Forests of Finland: Finland is known for its culture, history, education, the arts and exports. But it is also Europe's most heavily-forested country. Around 72% of Finland’s total land area is covered in forest. Capital city of Helsinki has sizeable forested areas, some designated as nature reserves. Managing forests effectively and avoiding deforestation are both very important to Finland. The country believes that anyone can walk freely in the forest to feel the wonderful fresh air and gather the gifts of the forest. Read more about the forests of Finland.
Innovative Ireland: One of the biggest challenges facing the world is how to feed a population set to grow from today’s 7.6 billion to 9.8 billion by 2050. Irish agritech companies will play a key role in helping to meet that challenge. Enterprise Ireland   points to two key initiatives: 1. Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys is encouraging Irish agritech and agricultural companies to apply for the  Innovation Arena Awards .  2. Enterprise Ireland also recently funded the development of a dedicated agritech R&D facility in Tralee to further support innovation. Read how Ireland is becoming an agritech island.
Polishing Poland: We've been learning a lot about Poland of late, not only due to the global climate change conference in Katowice, but from our recent visitors Darek and Dorota from Lodz, as well as a recent EU forum in Singapore. ​Besides its reliance on coal for energy, we learnt a little about Baltic Amber from Gdansk, regarded as the capital for the collection and working of Amber. In simple terms, Amber is the surviving resin of ancient pines trees. When The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge saw the making of amber jewelry, they were presented with gifts, to remember their time in Poland last year.  More on Amber and Poland here.
Gastronomically Greece: Damaging forest fires and a severe economic downturn cannot destroy Greece's gastronomical food industry. All we know about Greek food is from Rick Stein's wonderful food/travelogues and an old friend Ann Rickard, who once wrote "Not Another Greek Salad" . So recently when we met Greek officials at an EU/Singapore trade event, the conversation didn't stray much beyond food. So, we came away with a book all about Greece and Gastronomy. All about the food and wines of Greece. Including recipes. More to taste.
Sweden on Ice: We learned a lot about Sweden and its work in the polar regions at a recent event at the Singapore Sustainability Academy. Swedish Polar Research Secretariat and the Swedish Maritime Administration have, through their successful cooperative arrangement, developed the icebreaker Oden (pictured) into one of the world’s premier platforms for conducting research in polar regions. The Secretariat is now calling for proposals on the theme Global Change and Sustainability in the Abisko region of northern Sweden. Application deadline is 1 February 2019. More here.
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