Issue 238  | 28 January 2020
express
Welcome to the Roaring Twenties!
When we started to ready ourselves at the beginning of the 2020's decade to welcome the return of the "Roaring Twenties", we didn't mean it this way! (Picture credit: AP/Reuters) The year and the decade began with Australia on fire. We predict these will go down as the most extensive and devastating fires in the history of the world, not only Australia. Leaving state and federal governments powerless to act. Not only massive loss of homes, trees, infrastructure, wildlife, farm animals, but human fatalities too. And for the first time ever, Australia has produced what could well be the first wave of climate refugees from a developed nation and also, according to the British Meteorological Service, predictably the greatest additional contribution to emissions than any other single event. Climate change is here to stay and if unstoppable wild fires are a sign of things to come, all Governments must find a way to change their ways. This issue sets out some examples of countries and businesses where appropriate and necessary action is being taken to address climate change and cut emissions. Read what Australian author Geraldine Brooks has to say about it all. And then there's a very good piece, with a personal touch, from David Fogarty in the Straits Times , worth sharing. But as the action - and inaction - in dealing with Australia's worst ever fire season shows, every country must urgently address both mitigation and adaptation measures. - Ken Hickson
Where's Earth Heading? Scientific American tells us that in the past decade, scientists substantially improved their ability to draw connections between climate change and extreme weather events. They honed their predictions about future climate change. So, as another decade begins, scientists say there are more questions to be answered. Climate researchers across a variety of disciplines tell us about the biggest priorities and hottest topics for the 2020s. Here's what they said.
Economic Fix for Climate? For some, the penny has dropped about the climate emergency. This was the “global heating Davos”, with session after session devoted to the topic. The financial sector, which was well represented at Davos – including the big banks of Wall Street – now understands the investment risk of global heating and is starting to adjust its behaviour accordingly. The past year has turned Greta Thunberg from a Davos curiosity into a household name and global force. The Guardian's Davos summary.
Mixing Plastic Pollution & Climate Change
Why is plastic so bad? Is ocean pollution a climate change issue? What's the connection between plastic production & emissions of greenhouse gases? Is it an environment problem or a health issue? Or all of the above?
We received this from Antoinette Vermilye of the Gallifrey Foundation, Geneva, who started the Plastic Free Campus project to educate young and old this way. Key points:
  • Plastic pollution is a real issue – just look around
  • Plastics are made from oil and gas and their production harms our environment from added greenhouse gases.
  • Nature can’t digest it, Plastics break up into smaller pieces called micro-plastics. It never breaks down.
  • Plastics affect millions of sea and land creatures who are injured or killed eating them.
  • Plastics are now found everywhere: in our food, drink, in nature and all over the planet.
  • Plastic food and drink packaging often contain harmful chemical additives that affect human health. Read more here.
Talk to Doug Woodring of Ocean Recovery - as we have on many occasions - and you get some idea not only of his passion for action on ocean pollution, but he's got lots of solutions up his sleeve he's willing to share. He's responsible for getting the plastic whale on show outside Singapore's ArtScience Museum for the past month or so, before it left for a Shanghai outing. While Doug and his followers are doing all they can to get the plastic waste out of the oceans, he's also trying to get plastic recycling on a better industrial footing. Having global rules for Extended Producer Responsibility would greatly help, as would better separation of food waste and plastic for recycling. Read how Taiwan does it best.
Circulate Capital announced in Singapore in December it has established the world’s first investment fund dedicated to preventing ocean plastic: the Circulate Capital Ocean Fund (CCOF). Its goal is to invest in companies that prevent plastic pollution and advance the circular economy in South and Southeast Asia, thereby proving the investment case and catalyzing significant capital into the solutions. CCOF is a new, blended financing mechanism, bringing together the public and private sectors to invest for maximum impact. Circulate Capital secured significant funding commitment from corporate partners and partnered with USAID which will provide a 50% guarantee of CCOF’s loans, up to $35 million USD, further de-risking investments. There's more.
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste President and CEO, Jacob Duer, addressed the Responsible Business Forum last November to explain the Alliance’s role in helping end plastic waste in the environment.  He pointed out, among other things, where the issue stands today, pointing out that approximately 80% of the plastic waste that leaks into the marine environment is coming from a limited number of rivers in Asia (though not all this waste was necessarily generated in Asia initially). Pictured at left is how Taiwan turns plastic waste into re-useable material. While the Alliance says there is no single answer to the issue of plastic waste in the environment, it is collaborating to promote infrastructure development, education and engagement, innovation, and clean up efforts to keep plastic waste in the right place. More on the Alliance to End Plastic Waste here.
Applied Research to Cut Livestock Emissions
Livestock the world over – cattle and sheep mostly - are being blamed for the high level of greenhouse gas emissions coming from agriculture and food production.
Reducing consumption of red meat and switching to a plant-based diet might be one answer. But New Zealand - as a major global supplier of meat and dairy products – is exploring how it can cut methane emissions from agriculture in other productive ways.
We asked one of our Contributing Editors, Environmental Scientist Brook Wright, to update us.
"There has been much discussion on decarbonising agriculture in New Zealand. As a primary sector economy with a large agricultural base, it is no surprise that the carbon budget is dominated by organic emissions." 
Is the answer in what's being fed to livestock? Instead of pasture grass, how about Red Seaweed or Fodderbeet? There's always a form of "selective breeding". Read all about it.
Action Stations for Climate: Energy 2020
A few years ago (in fact in 2013, as noted in our "Race for Sustainability" book), we had the idea to promote a progressive Energy Strategy for Asia - ENERGY 2020. Hence the colourful forward-looking logo at left by our best designer friend Bryan Loke. Trouble is we got a little diverted by other pressing issues, even though we still feel it's a campaign worth promoting and it's in line with European Union's Climate Change & Energy Strategy, which is:
  • Greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced by 20% by 2020 compared to 1990;
  • Share of renewable energy sources in final energy consumption to be increased to 20%;
  • Energy efficiency to be improved by 20%;
It's not too late for Asia to set some ideal targets to work towards. Let's make the Twenties decade the time for Asia to make a genuine shift from fossil fuels to renewables, from energy waste to energy savings, from an upward trend in emissions to a downturn.
ASEAN has set a target of 23% renewables in the region’s energy mix by 2025 – a 250% increase from 2014. To do that, though, Southeast Asian countries will have to substantially scale-up their deployment of renewables in the power sector, as well as in heating, cooling and transport. Read More.
Brussels 15 January 2020: The Green New Deal Europe (GNDE) means the European Union plans to dedicate a quarter of its budget to tackling climate change and to work to shift 1 trillion euros (US$1.1 trillion) in investment towards making the EU's economy more environmentally friendly over the next 10 years. Read the New York Times report
United Arab Emirates, 12 January: The share of renewables in global power should more than double by 2030 to advance the global energy transformation, SDGs and a pathway to climate safety, according to the IRENA, with "clean electricity" supplying 57% of power globally by the end of the decade, up from 26% today. Read More.
ASEAN POST, 2 January: Technological innovations and favourable government policies are expected to drive ASEAN's transition to renewable energy, according to a report published by KPMG. Seventy million ASEAN citizens are without access to reliable electricity, so the potential for renewable energy is huge and governments are increasingly turning to solar and wind energy. More from KPMG.
Focus on Forests: One Trillion Trees
Into the Woods: A softening on climate? An olive branch to the environmentally-leaning Republicans? Or just a goodwill gesture to a restive electorate to counter his impeachment trial negatives? At Davos, Switzerland, President Trump announced the United States will join the One Trillion Trees Initiative launched at the World Economic Forum as world leaders sought to combat climate change. "We're committed to conserving the majesty of God's creation and the natural beauty of our world," Trump said, adding that the U.S. "will continue to show strong leadership in restoring, growing and better managing our trees and our forests". To put things in context, we were among the first to report on the need for a massive reforestation programme, as advanced by British ecologist Thomas Crowther and colleagues at ETH Zurich. See our February 2019 report on the 1.2 trillion trees proposal in ABC Carbon Express.
Fire Management a Priority: Responsible Wood is incredibly grateful for the efforts of those battling bushfires Australia and remains primarily concerned for the wellbeing of people and communities affected by the bushfires. Responsible Wood, the PEFC member in Australia, says: 'We recognise that many Responsible Wood members and certificate holders have been significantly impacted by the bushfires and are committed to work with all members and certificate holders to assist where we can. Fire related matters will be given the highest priority in the continued revision of the AS / NZS 4708 – Sustainable Forest Management standard." There's more.
Removing Six Barriers: Forests help stabilise the climate and provide many contributions to Sustainable Development Goals. World Resources Institute (WRI) has evidence about what policies and strategies are effective in conserving and restoring forests. So why haven’t such measures been adopted at scale? Its working paper,  Public-Sector Measures to Conserve and Restore Forests, commissioned by the Food and Land Use Coalition as part of its flagship  Growing Better  report, WRI identifies six economic and political economy barriers, and comes up with strategies to overcome them.
The Butterfly Effect? Arabuko Sokoke has a very rich biodiversity with more than 600 different tree species, 250 bird species, 230 species of mammals and different insects species, including more than 230 different butterflies. In order to preserve this unique forest, the Kenya Forest Service decided to work with local communities in line with the 2005 Forest Act which states that communities whose livelihood depends on the forest around them should be included in all decisions about the forest. The UN-REDD Programme introduced rules for free, prior and informed consent that lay out a series of guidelines on how to make this happen. Read more
Defining Forestry's Future: With sustainable forest management a subject of ever-increasing relevance, the United Kingdom's Forestry Journal spoke to CEO Ben Gunneberg about PEFC’s beginnings, evolution and continuing mission. Among many other things, Ben had this to say: "W e’ve got to get people to realise the real value of forests. Our vision is a world which values the full contributions of sustainable forests in terms of climate mitigation, adaptation and livelihoods for a lot of disadvantaged rural people in many parts of the world."  For the full story, go to Forestry Journal.
York Tree Planting: At least 50,000 trees will be planted across the English city of York during the next three years - after councillors heard the city has only 5% tree cover. The new trees will help tackle climate change - but could also benefit residents’ mental health, boost wildlife and reduce the risk of flooding, a council meeting heard. Cllr Derek Wann put forward plans for a new tree planting policy which would see the council look for space in the city where saplings could be planted. He said: “As a tree matures it can absorb more than 20kg of carbon dioxide in a year". More trees for York here.
Four Things to Know About Australia’s Wildfires and Their Impacts on Forests: This article by   Thailynn Munroe  and  Rod Taylor appeared in Global Forest Watch blog on 10 January 2020. Australia’s bush fires are the worst in the country’s recorded history. Already, millions of acres have burned, Australia’s fires have created devastation on an unprecedented scale. They also underscore the dependencies between forests and the climate – on the one hand,  forests sequester massive amounts of carbon  from the atmosphere; on the other, they are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Reining in emissions immediately is one of the most important tactics for ensuring Australia’s abnormal blazes do not become commonplace.  Global Forest Watch sheds light on what’s happening in Australia and the impacts fires could have: 1) Australia’s fires are seriously unprecedented. 2) Extreme weather conditions have turned something familiar into something abnormal.3) Roughly  a billion animals  have been impacted by fires in Australia, and some species may not be able to recover.4) Climate change will make fire-prone conditions more common in Australia. Here's the full story.
Put Pen to Paper: Power of the Printing Press
A new regular feature on the true value of paper
Is it true that young people no longer read books?
No, says Dr. Christine Lötscher. “Printed books will be able to hold their own against digital competition among the younger generation – if the book industry remembers its unique qualities and remains innovative.” This from a Swiss authority on popular literature and media about books in print and the value of reading. It’s important to start reading books early on as a child. First published in Panorama Magazine and re-printed in Print Singapore. Read it here.
Love Paper and the Power of the Printing Press:
There is recognition at home and abroad that Singapore has a flourishing printing and publishing industry. Ken Hickson believes more must be done to promote the use of responsibly-sourced paper and create greater awareness of the value of paper as a sustainably-produced material. T he positive stories about paper, print and paper packaging. There's no reason why Singapore couldn’t mount something similar to the UK’s Love Paper campaign. Read all about it here.
Why paper is not going away: This BBC programme looks at the global paper trade - which is thriving, despite the ubiquity of digital technology. Reporter Babita Sharma visits Frogmore Paper Mill, one of the oldest paper mills in the United Kingdom, where the annual Steampunk Festival is held. The paper industry is now adapting, as consumers become more environmentally conscious. In Italy, changes in legislation mean it has become a world-leader in recycled paper production. See this BBC "Made on Earth" Programme.
Responsible Business Forum
At the Responsible Business Forum, one of Singapore's champions for sustainability and climate change action was S enior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Amy Khor. She called for the adoption of a circular economy approach to not only reduce our carbon footprint and benefit the environment but create "new opportunities for our companies and good jobs will be created if we scale up the extraction of resources from waste, and generate economic value from something that would have been thrown away. For example, according to preliminary estimates, if Singapore recovers and reuses valuable materials found in e-waste, we can reap a net benefit of $40 million." There's more from Amy Khor and the Responsible Business Forum.
UNLEASH: Partnering to Drive Sustainable Development Goals
UNLEASH is a global innovation lab that brings together people from all over the world to transform 1000 personal insights into hundreds of ideas, and build lasting global networks around the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. UNLEASH is a non-profit started in 2017. Since 2017, UNLEASH has been held in Denmark, Singapore and China. At a re-launch on 17 January, the Danish Ambassador in Singapore Dorte Bech Vizard, led the charge, with UNDP and Temasek International in support. What makes UNLEASH unique is that it is creating a global lab and platform fully dedicated to the new SDGs, where talents can add value directly and access a unique eco system of corporations, think-tanks, foundations, non-profits, angel investors, etc. How can you get involved in UNLEASH in Singapore or anywhere else in the world? See for yourself. SASA and ABC Carbon supports this Danish global initiative.
Search on for Brands for Good Champions
Brands for Good goes into its third year in Singapore - and expands into other Southeast Asian countries - because the organisers believe that "a brand's success is not based solely on its business achievements, but also by the positive role it plays in it’s community and environmental engagement'. Brands for Good 2020 will be launched on 11 February with a panel discussion on the topic: Is CSR Misunderstood? Leveraging on Social Responsibility to Drive Profits. For more information on the awards, the categories and the nomination process, go to Brands for Good . Since it's beginning, Brands for Good has been strongly supported by Sustain Ability Showcase Asia (SASA) and ABC Carbon Express. Ken Hickson is once again one of the judges in the Environmental Group category .
Who will take up the Liveability Challenge 2020?
The Liveability Challenge is on. Temasek Foundation and Eco-Business launched the 2020 Challenge at Temasek Shophouse on 14 January. Keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will not happen without a strategy to actively remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. Although carbon capture and storage, and utilisation technologies are nascent, costly and space intensive, it represents a huge trillion-dollar business opportunity. Do you have a solution? You have until 17 April to put in your bid. The Liveability Challenge is welcoming proposals to make cities in the tropics sustainable and future-ready. The winner will secure up to S$1 million in funding for project development. Check out the previous winners: Sophie's Kitchen in 2019 and RWDC Industries in 2018.
Unlocking Capital for Sustainability
+ Biomass Asia + Sustainable Food
Argus Biomass Asia Conference  returns for its fifth edition on 4-6 March 2020 in Singapore. The 2019 event saw over 140 biomass executives attend, with close to 50% of them from Southeast Asia and a third from Northeast Asia. As Asian biomass trade continues to flourish and the market develops, new opportunities and challenges will also emerge. Senior industry stakeholders will be addressing key issues and critical pain points, including project financing and sustainability standards.
On 26 March 2020, this annual event takes place with a focus on finance for sustainability, organised by Eco-Business in partnership with UN Environment. It will be bringing together high-level decision makers in finance, business, government and civic society. According to the Business and Sustainable Development Commission , sustainable development in Asia will require US$5 trillion to address climate change, growing inequality and rising urbanisation by 2030. There's more.
Since 2009, the Sustainable Foods Summit has been covering major developments in the food industry concerning sustainability and eco-labels. What are some of the common ways food and ingredient firms are reducing their impacts? What is the future direction for sustainable sourcing: is it with third party standards or in-house schemes? How can sustainable agriculture help improve food security? What about food waste? Such questions will be addressed at the 3rd Asia-Pacific edition of the Sustainable Foods Summit in Singapore on 30-31 March 2020.
Last Word: For Global Good
Bamboo, a symbol of vitality, resilience & wealth: Stewardship Asia Centre launched of its new book  ENTRUSTED  last October, featuring a bamboo grove on its cover. Co-written by Ong Boon Hwee and Mark Goyder, and published by World Scientific, the book discusses corporate stewardship ideas and offers practical guidance for all within the business ecosystem. It aims to help business leaders understand and embrace the urgent transformational shift required to build organisations that focus on the long term health of the company, and future value creation to benefit society and future generations. Bamboo embodies the characteristics of stewardship and sustainability. Read all about it.
Power to the people: After months of wildfires, an essential question in a warming, windy California is this: How does the state keep the lights on? A tiny Native American tribe, settled here in the Mad River Valley, has an answer. Build your own utility. The Blue Lake Rancheria tribe has constructed a microgrid on its 100-acre reservation, a complex of solar panels, storage batteries and distribution lines that operates as part of the broader utility network or completely independent of it. It is a state-of-the-art system — and an indicator of what might be in California’s future. There's more.
Temasek "Agressively" Goes Green: Temasek International, the management and investment arm of Singapore investment firm Temasek, has pledged to become carbon neutral by the end of the year. It aims to halve the emissions of its portfolio companies by 2030. Environmental concerns are understood to be part of the reason it chose not to participate in Saudi Aramco's initial public offering last year. "We may have to be more aggressive," Temasek International chief executive Dilhan Pillay said in a Bloomberg Television interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "We are thinking about how we can expand a number of sustainability investments." There's more.
Cool Carpet for the Climate: For any building, it’s not just heating and cooling that adds to carbon emissions, but the materials and processes used to create them. And that includes flooring products. So reducing the ‘embodied carbon’ is the most urgent challenge of all. Interface has achieved this by changing how it designs and make things, reducing its footprint by over 60%. Balancing what can't be avoided with carbon offsets that support renewable energy, fuel switching and reforestation to keep carbon in nature and out of the atmosphere. The very innovative Interface has also partnered with the glass recycling supply chain to process this laminate and use it in the production of carpet tiles.
Birdwatching for 'Flu Flies': We couldn't resist dipping into the issue of ABC Carbon Express which started the 2010s decade - January 2010 - and lo and behold, we featured a profile of none other than Nobel Prize winner Dr Peter Doherty. We were just thinking about him the other day as we heard more about the current Coronavirus that's rapidly spreading around the world from Wuhan, China. He described how 'flu flies' - with the help of birds - in his very entertaining and informative book "Sentinel Chickens" (2012). He doesn't hesitate - still - to clearly connect climate change impacts on the natural world and man's inability to stop polluting the planet. Birds tell us about our health and the world. Dr Doherty tells us to watch out for the birds and the bees!
Welcome to the Year of the Rat: While thinking about viruses that start with animals and spread through humans (and birds), we must mark the start of Chinese New Year by honouring the Rat. We might not all have a very favourable image of the Rat in our minds, but the Chinese say the rodent is associated with "wealth and high fertility", and people born in the Year of the Rat are supposed to be "optimistic and likeable". We can only hope that we can remain optimistic in a year that starts with bush fires raging out of control in Australia, a damaging earthquake in Turkey, a volcanic eruption in the Philippines, the United Kingdom pulling out of the European Union and an animal virus that originated in a wet market in China - possibly from a rat! - delivering a deadly blow around the world. It may be incongruous to some, but we decided to show the Rat (at right) as a friendly and endearing creature. Cheers!