Visualising the future - and creating it - is an art as much as a science, so this wonderful portrayal of clean wind energy in a pastoral setting is an ideal image. It also clearly identifies people as the essential ingredient to make this happen. This comes from Wind Europe.
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Creating Our Low Carbon Energy Future Together |
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"Creating Our Low Carbon Energy Future Together” might be the theme for the Singapore International Energy Week - the first using a hybrid approach in these crazy pandemic times - but it's also a challenge. Do or die! Yes, an ideal title - if it hasn't been used before - for a James Bond thriller. But this is no fiction. It's for real.
We know that t he first nine months of this year - in spite of the coronavirus pandemic raging everywhere - saw record concentrations of major greenhouse gases, including CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere. See the latest State of the Climate Report from Carbon Brief. How can we continue to talk about the fears of climate change impact when it's already upon us? How can we continue to burn fossil fuels knowing what damage its doing? Get real! It's for real.
There is a lot going on that's positive and productive. As reports in this issue show. But it's not happening fast enough to do enough good. So, yes, we must work Together to Create a Low Carbon Future. But without delay. Time is not on our side.
Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilisations are written the pathetic words: 'Too late...' Ken Hickson
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NEWS: INTERNATIONAL ENERGY WEEK |
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S$49 Million for Low Carbon Energy Research Funding
Government today announced a $49 million Low-Carbon Energy Research Funding Initiative. It will support research, development and demonstration projects in low-carbon energy technologies such as hydrogen; and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) over the next five years. These efforts aim to accelerate the technical and economic viability of such emerging technologies to reduce Singapore’s carbon emissions, particularly for emissions intensive areas like the power and industrial sectors. Read more.
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Singapore's First Offshore Energy Storage Pilot
Energy Market Authority (EMA) and Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) have jointly awarded a research grant to pilot Singapore’s first floating Energy Storage System (ESS) to a consortium led by Envision Digital International Pte Ltd (Envision Digital). This is part of the $10 million partnership between EMA and Keppel O&M to develop innovative energy solutions in the marine sector. Chief Executive, Mr Ngiam Shih Chun, said: “Energy storage and smart energy management systems support the deployment of more renewable energy in Singapore. This project will pave the way to overcome our land constraints, and set the blueprint for similar deployments in the future. We hope to continue co-creating more of such energy solutions with the industry as we work towards a more sustainable energy future for Singapore.” Read More
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World Energy Outlook: Reaching Climate Goals of Net Zero Emissions |
This month's World Energy Outlook from the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol: “The economic downturn has temporarily suppressed emissions, but low economic growth is not a low-emissions strategy – it is a strategy that would only serve to further impoverish the world’s most vulnerable populations. Only faster structural changes to the way we produce and consume energy can break the emissions trend for good. Governments have the capacity and the responsibility to take decisive actions to accelerate clean energy transitions and put the world on a path to reaching our climate goals, including net-zero emissions.” Go here for the rest.
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Angry Clean Energy Guy Calls ASEAN "A Global Laggard" |
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Southeast Asia, when taken as a whole, is a global laggard in the uptake of renewable energy, but some countries are leading the way, such as Vietnam, the Philippines, and Myanmar. And as ‘Angry Clean Energy Guy’ Assaad W. Razzouk argues in PV Magazine, policymakers in the region cannot hold back the tide of solar and wind for much longer. Here's more.
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Boost for Renewable Energy Certificates in Singapore/SEAsia |
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Singapore’s Energy Market Company (EMC) – a subsidiary of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) - announced on 12 October that organisations committed to environmental sustainability can now conveniently purchase electricity and offset their electricity consumption with Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) through EMC’s PowerSelect platform. RECs are financial instruments that certify the purchase by an investor of units of electricity generated from renewable energy sources. Once the renewable energy is fed into the national power grid by the power generator, the REC can be traded as a separate energy commodity. Read all about it.
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Loh Boon Chye, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SGX: “A commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices is seen as increasingly important by customers, employees and shareholders of companies, who want their investments to not only deliver a financial return, but also contribute to social goals including environmental sustainability."
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Esther An, Chief Sustainability Officer, City Developments Limited (CDL) and a panelist at SIEW says: “As a sustainability pioneer and green building champion, has remained steadfast in tackling the climate crisis and reducing our carbon emissions. CDL is glad to support EMC’s initiative to accelerate Singapore’s transition towards a low-carbon economy increasingly powered by renewable energy.”
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Marc Allen, who runs engeco as an energy consulting company in Singapore and helps businesses assign a market value to carbon emission, definitely thinks RECs have their place and “can help support climate change goals, particularly in the world of Scope 2 emissions”, those indirect emissions from electricity purchased and used by the organisation. More on engeco here.
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Low Carbon Innovations
Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO of Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy is a keynote speaker in the session on Low Carbon Innovations at the Singapore Energy Summit. To meet climate change commitments, it is critical that all countries leverage on low-carbon alternatives and solutions such as hydrogen, carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS), energy efficiency as well as renewable energy alternatives to fossil fuels. Who else is speaking?
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Priceless Planet Coalition
The current pandemic has underscored how interconnected our world has become – and that the health and well-being of our planet is deeply linked to that of our people. As wildfires ravage many parts of the world, from the US west coast to Brazil and Australia, and we experience some of the most extreme weather events on record, we must urgently invest in innovative ways to inspire collective action to address climate change. Read more about this Mastercard initiative.
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Energy Grows on Trees in Japan & New Zealand |
"Put another log on the fire", goes the old country song. But it has renewed meaning these days as wood chips are seen as a renewable energy source. With the Singapore International Energy Week happening right now, we decided to explore how forests can contribute "clean" energy. Sumitomo of Japan provides a good example, as the company makes sure all its imported biomass material – wood chips included – are sustainably sourced and shipped, as it has Chain of Custody certification from PEFC, as well as from the Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP). Sumitomo also owns and operates a biomass power plant in Japan and a forest in New Zealand. So delve into a another New Zealand report “If energy grew on trees”. Read More.
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Climate & Clean Energy Big Wins with Jacinda Ardern in NZ Elections |
In addition to the pandemic, climate change was a key issue in the election, with many New Zealanders becoming more aware of the threat early this year as ash from bushfires in neighbouring Australia turned skies red and glaciers brown. Proud of being one of the world's most pristine, naturally beautiful countries, New Zealand has introduced climate change into its school curriculum, while parliament approved a bill to cut carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050. And there's more to come as Jacinda Ardern's big win gives her an even bigger mandate for change! Read More
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Innovations Adding Value to Plastic Waste |
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Litterati, one of our finalists from the End Plastic Waste Innovation Platform’s Silicon Valley hub, is an App that empowers individuals to make a significant, measurable impact on the environment. The Alliance started working with Litterati for World Cleanup Day 2020, creating a day of impact followed by two weeks of action with our member companies to clean the world. Nicholas Kolesch, Vice President of Projects for the Alliance to End Plastic Waste said: "We’re delighted to open the call for more entries for our Silicon Valley hub. So far, we had a total of over 30 startups all over the world pushing new ideas and technologies in support of our mission. There's more.
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Magorium, a Singaporean start-up that's come up with an innovative solution, which converts plastic waste into road additives, won the top prize of S$20,000 at the nationwide ideasinc 2020 competition. held earlier in October. Having tested the product on private roads and a driveway in Senoko has been integrated with Magorium’s pellets. Currently working with Singapore’s Land Transport Authority and the National Environment Agency, they are in the testing and approval stage.They are also currently in talks with Thailand and China hoping to eventually work in international markets. Founder Oh Chu Xian said, “This is a global problem, so hopefully Magorium can be the solution to this issue”. Read More.
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Planks of Promise – The Plastic Flamingo |
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The Philippines disposes an estimated 2.7 million tons of plastic waste each year, and is one of five Asian countries that account for about 60% of the plastic waste leakage into the ocean globally (the others being China, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam). Up steps the Plastic Flamingo, a social enterprise launched in the Philippines in 2019. It provides a unique solution to the plastic waste problem. They work with investors, sponsors, and corporate partners to manage over 62 collection points to help collect, sort and recycle plastic waste. With the support of the Alliance, the Planks of Promise initiative aims to more than triple this number to 200 collection points by 2022. Read all about it.
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Recycled Plastic Waste News from Africa |
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Norwegian startup Othalo Turns Plastic Waste into Building Materials for African Homes: The “patent-pending technology to manufacture building systems using recycled plastic waste” developed by Othalo has caught the attention of UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, which marked World Habitat Day 2020 earlier this month in part by announcing a partnership with Othalo. The plan is to further develop the technology and complete three housing prototypes built from 100% recycled plastic waste within the next 18 months before moving to the mass production stage. “There is only one technology in the world today that can do something real about Africa’s housing deficiency and the plastic waste problem, and that is Othalo,” said Vincent Kitio of UN-Habitat’s Urban Energy division. Read the rest in The Architects Newspaper .
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Plastic Free World Virtual Summit 2020 |
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Plastic Free World Virtual Summit 2020 will take place live on 9-10 November and on-demand for 30 days. With over 200 expert speakers, including CEO of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste Jacob Duer, there are more than 25 panel discussions, a fully interactive exhibition, 5 individual conference tracks, and dedicated networking sessions. This will allow more people than ever from all corners of the world to share the latest in-depth industry knowledge to help the world tackle the rising issue of waste plastic in the environment. Any business looking to reduce the environmental impact of plastics in their supply chain should attend this event. However, the following industries are particularly recommended to attend: Material suppliers, Retail & Consumer Goods, Food & Beverage and Automotive & Transport. See the full programme here.
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Planet or Plastic? Plastic waste is everywhere. ArtScience Museum’s first exhibition to launch since re-opening after Singapore’s circuit-breaker, shines a spotlight on the fragility of the natural environment. The exhibition raises awareness of society’s dependence on plastic by visually depicting the crisis and highlighting the innovative individuals and communities who are working on solutions. Learn about the global plastic pollution crisis through more than 70 powerful photographs and videos in an exhibition by National Geographic. The exhibition which opened in September runs until end March 2021. Go here for more.
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Focus on Forests: Wood 4 Good |
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How Green is my Building? A fast-growing application of timber is in the construction industry due to its environmental benefits. But care must be taken to ensure that the timber comes from sustainably managed forests, else all these benefits are canceled out or, even worse, contribute to illegal logging and biodiversity loss. This is the message from Darren Thomas, CEO of Double Helix Tracking Technology in an article entitled "How Green Is my Building?" as his company is able to help leaders in the industry be confident in the timber products they are bringing to market. This is achieved through better visibility, understanding and control of their supply chain practices. Traceability, in a word. "This is no hit and miss affair. It’s consistent and it’s transparent." Read more.
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Role for Manufacturers & Retailers: PEFC participated at the virtual Consumer Goods Forum Sustainable Retail Summit (CGF SRS) mid-October to take a deep dive into the science behind forests and how they contribute to climate change mitigation through sequestration, storage and substitution. Sustainably managed forests are the most significant nature-based solution for action on climate change and carbon emissions. How can global manufacturers and retailers play a meaningful role? PEFC and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) discussed this with two leading forest science experts at the CGF Special Session.. There's more on how sustainable procurement policies can fully leverage forest certification support global action on climate and other key sustainability action targets. See this informative PEFC video.
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Forest Positive Coalition for Action: As part of its commitment to collaboration, transparency and accountability, The Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Forest Positive Coalition of Action launched mid-October a digital engagement platform as a tool to use in its ongoing dialogues with stakeholders from the NGO community and civil society. The platform, called Evergreen, will provide an online space for the Coalition, its members and stakeholders to collaborate, discuss and share knowledge. The platform was announced by the Coalition’s co-chairs, Chris McGrath, Vice President and Chief of Global Impact, Sustainability, and Well-being, Mondelēz International, and Bertrand Swiderski, Sustainability Director, Carrefour, during a session at the CGF’s virtual Sustainable Retail Summit. There's more.
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Eliminating Deforestation from Supply Chains: Read about a leading businessman who made bold and unconventional moves that seemed heretical to some investors, accustomed to a focus on short-term profits. He stopped issuing quarterly guidance and warned that climate change was costing his global company hundreds of millions of dollars annually. He began requiring suppliers develop plans to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains and started acquired companies known for their eco-friendly branding. Rhett Butler of Mongabay interviews Paul Polman who set Unilever on its Sustainability Living Plan. There's much more here.
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Responsibly-Sourced & Eco-Friendly Furniture: The global eco-friendly furniture market size was valued at USD 35.2 billion in 2019. Rising adoption of sustainable materials in furniture production to support the environment is driving the market. In addition, growing initiatives such as environmentally friendly housing projects across nations have widened the scope for eco-friendly furniture among consumers. Furthermore, increasing influx of millennial and generation Z consumers purchasing eco-friendly furniture is likely to drive the market in the forecast period. Read the Grand View Research report.
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Resolving Forest Conflicts the Bhutan Way: Forest: An innovative community-based forest management policy has resolved a long-simmering land-use conflict between migratory yak herders and sedentary residents in a remote area of Bhutan. Where once grazing livestock nibbled vegetation and trampled seedlings, a plantation forest now provides environmental stability and an improved quality of life. The outcome of revised policies and strategic planning, a designated corridor for animals means that water is no longer polluted by cattle and that feuds have subsided. More forest news from Cifor.
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A century ago, the hills were covered in forest. From Afghanistan to Cambodia, all throughout the lower Himalayas, extreme weather conditions are becoming the norm. Now the hills are barren because of population growth, agricultural expansion and demand for firewood and timber. Deforestation and landscape degradation mean that monsoons bring severe floods and the dry season brings drought, a challenge that curtails agricultural production. Read what soil expert Rattan Lal has to say about it.
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From Austria With Love - Certified of course! The historic Changi Chapel & Museum has been getting a new timber structure, designed by Architects SG and constructed by Venturer Timberwork. In the process, it is the first PEFC-certified Chain of Custody project awarded in Singapore. It is also the first to make use of a dedicated supply chain traceability process, SourceMap, applied by Double Helix Tracking Technologies to the timber from a certified Austrian forest to Singapore.
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Building Back Better for Resilient Cities |
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Design Future Build on Show: Soon you will see and hear a lot more about Protiotype and Design Future Build. The purpose is to showcase industry research projects from Protiotype's Architecture Lab (PAL) at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) in Thailand. The signing ceremony in September in Bangkok included announcements, statements and presentations confirming the first cohort of industry partners at PAL. The aim is also to socialise Protiotype's System House project to the wider design community. Greg Cornelius says: "Our intent is to discover more designers and engineers interested in working on our new standard for manufacturing ecological/technological buildings to transform the built environment of the planet into ecologically and economically sustainable infrastructure." Protiotype's Design Future Build returns to JustCo Samyan Mitrtown on 2 February 2021, as part of Bangkok Design Week. Look out the first issue of the new print journal of Protiotype Design Science, which will be launched at Bangkok Design Week. More about Prototype Design Science
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Cities for a Resilient Recovery from Global Pandemic Impacts
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Cities for a Resilient Recovery is a coalition of cities and resilience practitioners committed to taking leadership roles, embedding resilience in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and supporting each other through the recovery planning process by sharing knowledge, providing subject matter expertise, and facilitating both collective and individual action.
Learn more from Lauren Sorkin, who heads the Resilient Cities Network. Go here for more.
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TRADA - The UK's Timber Research and Development Association - believes timber use in construction is essential for the sustainability of our planet. The book Designing timber structures: an introduction aims to make timber, as a structural building material, more accessible. The wider implication is this: if we can make the timber design process easier for students and their lecturers to engage with, this will encourage the wider exploration of timber in structural engineering by our future designers and engineering professionals. Go to TRADA for more.
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ICLEI and the Federal City of Bonn welcomes you to Daring Cities 2020, a virtual, global forum on climate change for urban leaders tackling the climate emergency, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Running from 7-28 October 2020, it offers an online array of high level and visionary speaking sessions, a series of informative workshops, resources like an email bootcamp and podcast series, and personal networking opportunities. The event will help to set the course to COP26, Daring Cities 2021 and beyond. Read More
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Last Word: For Global Good |
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How green is your gallery? That was the headline which grabbed our attention in the latest FT Weekend. We discovered Gallery Climate Coalition in the process. It's goal is to facilitate a greener and more sustainable art world. Providing guidelines and the necessary resources so that art galleries everywhere can collectively reduce their carbon footprint by 50% over the next ten years, as well as promoting near zero-waste practices. Read more.
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Introducing the Brands for Good CarbonCare® Label, which encourages and recognises the efforts of businesses in their actions to tackle climate change in Singapore by measuring and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Two entities, Amazonia Pte Ltd and Kowabunga! Global Pte Ltd, were awarded the Brands for Good CarbonCare® Label 2019 for taking steps to understand and measure their carbon footprint.
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EnergEyes or Energise? You might have noticed us use a the concocted word "EnergEyes" here and there. It's first use goes back to April 2014 when we came up with the title for a new e-newsletter for Armstrong Asset Management's Clean Energy Fund for Southeast Asia. Designed by the wonderful Bryan Loke. We'd be interested to hear from anyone who still has a copy archived somewhere. You can still find Andrew Affleck and AAM active as ever. Go here for more.
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STOP PRESS: October 26, 2020 | NEW YORK – The Rockefeller Foundation will commit USD1 billion over the next three years to catalyze a more inclusive, green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Building on current efforts and long-standing programs, the Foundation will focus on two key areas: catalyzing billions of dollars in private and concessional investments to scale distributed renewable energy across developing countries; and ensuring more equitable access to Covid-19 tests and vaccines, science-based tools, and data to fight the pandemic, while strengthening public health systems to prevent future outbreaks. In addition to this unique, one-time commitment of additional resources, The Rockefeller Foundation’s efforts and energies, as a whole, will be rededicated and reoriented toward improving the lives of the world’s poorest people and addressing inequities made worse by this virus. Rockefeller Foundation
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