Issue 239  | 31 March 2020
express
Dealing with the Global Big C's: Coronavirus/Covid 19 & Climate Change Impacts
Commentary:
Collecting our Thoughts on What's Going Viral
What we thought would be a new decade of hope and a year of encouraging progress towards realistic climate change action and sustainable development goals, came crashing down.
First with the disastrous and soul-destroying Australian bush fires. Then, a global pandemic. While we mentioned it in passing in our late January issue, little did we know then that the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China would take the world by storm. It's fatal. As at 31 March 2020, 37,820 have died so far. There are currently 785,807 confirmed cases in 200 countries and territorie s, according to Worldometers.   Millions are confined to isolate in homes, hospitals or special locations.
Businesses around the world have felt the impact.Travel has ground to a halt. Governments the world over - and institutions like the World Bank - are pouring trillions of dollars into the system to keep it afloat.
Where and when will this end? Now, we all need to focus on not only staying home, maintaining higher hygiene standards, staying healthy and making sure everyone is attended to, but we have to start rebuilding. Making sure we are better prepared for any eventuality. We all have to make sure we address all the 17 sustainable development goals - which includes Goal 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
We have to make sure the UN and all Governments direct their attention this year to seriously and genuinely address climate change. We must insist that the Paris Agreement is adhered to. There's no alternative. The health of the people and the health of the environment are paramount. Now is our chance to come clean and to put the world on a course to a safe, secure and sensible future. - Ken Hickson
PS. You might be able to detect an unusual background design if you see this online magazine on a computer scene and not on a mobile. We show an image of it above, too. It represents the coronavirus and appropriately - and symbolically - it has turned green!
Stopping Wildlife Trade & Illegal Logging
China has banned the trade and consumption of wild animals in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The ban covers not just wild-caught species recognised as threatened, but also the hunting, trading and transport of all terrestrial wild animals for human consumption. It's suspected the epicentre of the pandemic was a wet market in Wuhan, where wild animals and bushmeat was being sold. The novel coronavirus most likely originated in bats and made the jump to humans. The ban on wildlife trade and consumption is an attempt to limit the exposure of people to wild animals carrying viruses that humans haven’t encountered before and can’t effectively defend against. Read the Mongabay report.
Southeast Asia's rainforests face a heightened threat from illegal loggers and poachers as coronavirus restrictions hamper conservation efforts. In Malaysia and Indonesia, police and army personnel are being deployed in urban areas to enforce lockdowns or help build emergency health facilities. The capacity of plantations, environmentalists and state forestry agencies to both monitor forests and act if clearing happens is being hampered by constraints on movement imposed to stem the pandemic. "The lockdown is impacting on forest protection efforts as field teams cannot get out to do their work," said Arie Rompas, Greenpeace campaigner. Check with Reuters Foundation.
Question to APEC: Is this the way to stop illegal logging in Indonesia?
JAKARTA, 30 March 2020 — The European Union is seeking an explanation for Indonesia’s decision to scrap a highly regarded timber legality verification system, to ensure it imports only sustainably sourced wood products. Indonesia’s trade ministry says exporters will no longer need to obtain licenses verifying that their timber and finished wood products come from legal sources. Minister Agus Suparmanto has  justified   the scrapping of the license requirement as part of a stimulus to boost the timber trade amid a slowdown caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Go to Mongabay for more.
Change is in the Air: Pollution & Appetites
As panicked consumers flock to grocery stores, emptying shelves in preparation for homebound quarantines that could last for weeks, the coronavirus pandemic is revealing an alarming longer-term concern about the world's growing appetites and the stresses they impose on a warming planet.  Zoonotic diseases—those that spread between animals and humans—represent the biggest proportion of new, emerging diseases like COVID-19, which scientists believe originated in bats. Read More from Inside Climate News
The coronavirus pandemic is shutting down industrial activity and temporarily slashing air pollution levels around the world, satellite imagery from the European Space Agency shows. One expert said the sudden shift represented the “largest-scale experiment ever,” in terms of the reduction of industrial emissions. Readings from ESA’s Sentinel-5P satellite show that over the past six weeks, levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over cities and industrial clusters in Asia and Europe were markedly lower than in the same period last year. Read more in the Guardian.
Cost Analysis: Climate Dollars & Plastic Trash
A respected research group,  Project Drawdown , finds that deploying solutions consistent with meeting the Paris climate targets would cost tens of trillions of dollars globally. But crucially, those outlays would also yield long-term savings many times larger than the up-front costs. The new  2020 Drawdown Review  includes economic estimates of the capital costs to deploy each solution, net lifetime operation costs, and lifetime profits from the sale of products produced by the agricultural solutions. The key conclusion is that while the upfront costs are substantial – around $25 trillion globally – the resulting savings and profits are five to six times larger. Read more from Yale Climate Connections.
The coronavirus has triggered some unexpected environmental benefits in recent days.  Skies are clearing  over China, Italy, and the US, greenhouse gas emissions are down, and cars are parked in driveways with nowhere to go. But there's one area in which the coronavirus has potential to cause more environmental damage than before, and that is single-use disposable plastics.The plastics industry is taking advantage of the current crisis to warn people against reusable bags and containers, saying they're potential vectors for contamination and that disposables are a safer option.  More from Treehugger.
Hands On for a Greener & Cleaner Future
Some argue investment into eco-enterprise could revive economies struggling under COVID-19 and help transition to a greener future.
European governments battling to brace economies pummelled by the coronavirus, there might be no better time to go green. Normally thrifty countries, such as Germany, accept they will have to spend heavily to weather the economic shock of the coronavirus. Many also face the challenge of ploughing billions of euros into climate schemes to keep carbon reduction pledges. Could "green stimulus" be the answer? For budget hawks preparing to throw out the traditional fiscal rule book to fight the pandemic, green bonds - raising debt for funding projects such as renewable energy and public transport - might be a palatable option. Read more here.
Remarkably, until there is a vaccine for Covid-19, soap remains our best first line of defence. This from the CEO of Unilever, Alan Jope: "Medical authorities are clear: washing our hands thoroughly and frequently with soap, or using sanitiser where soap and water are not available, is one of the most effective ways to arrest the spread of infection. As the world’s biggest soap company, we have a responsibility to help. We have a social, medical, and moral obligation to make soap more readily available worldwide. We have to deploy our expertise in how to teach people to handwash effectively, whichever brand they choose to use. So, today we have announced a set of measures to support global and national efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic."  More from Unilever.
A Word from the Wise: Peter Doherty
Peter Doherty won the Nobel prize in medicine for his work on the immune system. "I'm a disease and death guy," is how he explains it to the lay person. So he knows his science. And he isn't afraid to criticise governments that don't respect it. Climate science, for instance. The number of new infections detected in Australia has accelerated exponentially. It was doubling every five or six days a couple of weeks ago. It's now doubling every three days. "We may see an upward trajectory for another week - a lot of the people on Bondi may have been infected," says Doherty, who literally wrote the book on the topic - "Pandemics: What Everyone Needs to Know" - in 2013. Read the full story written by Peter Hartcher in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The Doherty Institute, one of the world's research leaders and the first lab outside China to decode the COVID-19's structure and distribute the data to labs worldwide, has received federal and state funding for research and "a lot of money" from private donors and philanthropists.
Learning Costly Lessons for a Change
In Singapore, one of the first places hit by coronavirus, detectives are tracking down potential positive cases to try to stay one step ahead of the virus. How did they do this and is it too late for the rest of the world? BBC Report
When it comes to climate change, we are still moving too slowly, often too tangled in red tape and bogged down in internal company and country politics. Worldwide devastation will be much worse than what we are experiencing today.    We Mean Business.
Campaigning groups have called for any Government bailout of airline companies due to the impact of the coronavirus to include conditional links for worker rights, fair taxing systems and transparent action plans on climate change. Read more.
"Impact underscores the importance of shifting from fossil fuels. But will devastated economies stay the course on Paris accord commitments?"
University of Cumbria social-science professor Jem Bendell is more willing to make the connection between coronavirus and climate change. He says that a warmer habitat may have caused the bats to alter their movements, putting them in contact with humans. Partly because of that connection, Bendell said governments should commit only to “fair and green” bailouts, and shouldn’t save carbon-intensive industries such as airlines, oil, gas, coal or cement. Instead, they should let the companies approach bankruptcy and nationalise one or two of them to get them aligned with national climate policies. Read the rest of this in Bloomberg Green.
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Kailash Satyarthi says the coronavirus has forced us to live a life that most of us have never experienced before with almost one fourth of the world’s population on lockdown. A cloud of uncertainty has descended upon us all, leading to fear. The global economy has gone into a tailspin. No matter what part of the world we live in, no matter what our nationalities, colour, religion, culture, socio-economic status, we are all facing the same crisis to varying degrees all at the same time. Our common fear can also become a source of courage, resilience and hope. Read the rest from Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Fast Track for Reforms? There may be a bright side to the global pandemic, triggered by the Covid-19 virus wildfire spreading out of China, according to Bayani S Cruz in The Asset ESG Forum. While everybody is preoccupied with the negative impact on the global economy arising from the mass quarantines around the world and the disruption of supply chains, the virus is quietly pushing widespread awareness of the urgency of implementing sustainability investing and environmental, social and governmental (ESG) reforms, not only in China, but in the rest of the world as well. There's more.
Focus on Forests: Wood 4 Good
Certified Timber Prize for Architects: There's still time to enter the 2020 contest for any of the 18 ‘Completed Buildings’ award categories eligible for the Best Use of Certified Timber Prize. Architects are reminded that the use of certified wood is a precondition for entering the prize. During the submission process, entrants will be asked to provide details on the percentage of PEFC-certified material used on the project. To get started, head to the  WAF website! The 13 th World Architecture Festival will take place in Lisbon from 2-4 December 2020. The winner will be announced at a Gala Dinner on Friday 4 December. Please note that the deadline for entry is 22 May 2020.  Pictured above: Designed and built by the sustainable building company  Jakobsen Huse, the building in Demark is the world’s first one-family house to achieve PEFC project certification. Nearly 85% of the wood used for the building is PEFC-certified. More from PEFC.
Humans of the Forest: The second instalment of PEFC's micro documentary series Humans of the Forests is out.. People around the globe who are in touch with forests in their daily lives share their stories, and let us see forests through different eyes. The first instalment took us to Italy, where we met Anna, who introduced us to the  daily work of a forest manager , and Roberto, who is determined to  rebuild his devastated village   with PEFC-certified wood from Anna’s forest. The second instalment takes us across the ocean to Chile, where three more people share their stories. All of them depend on the forest for their livelihoods – in very different ways. More from PEFC.
French Specify Wood 4 Good: The government of France is set to require that all new public buildings must be made at least 50% from wood or other sustainable materials from 2022 as it pushes for sustainable urban development. The local government in Paris had already pledged a greater use of natural materials such as wood, straw and hemp, and any buildings higher than eight storeys built for the 2024 Paris Olympics must be made entirely of timber.  Global Construction Review
Road to Ruin for Rainforest: The rapidly expanding network of roads into the Amazon is permanently altering the world’s largest tropical forest. Most proposed road projects lack rigorous impact assessments or even basic economic justification. This study analyses the expected environmental, social and economic impacts of 75 road projects, totalling 12 thousand kilometres of planned roads, in the region. We find that all projects, although in different magnitudes, will negatively impact the environment. Read the full paper by Thais Vilela and colleagues, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.  More like this from Bill Laurance and the Global RoadMap.
Coronavirus Challenges Certification: To support certified entities and certification bodies during the COVID-19 challenge, PEFC has extended the transition period for its three revised international standards by six months. This extension applies to the 2020 versions of the Chain of Custody (ST 2002), PEFC Trademarks (ST 2001) and Certification Body Requirements - Chain of Custody (ST 2003) standards. The transition date is now 14 February 2022. For PEFC chain of custody certified companies, there's information on  what the 2020 standards mean for certification  and how it will affect use of the PEFC label . For those not certified, but thinking about getting certified, PEFC also provides advice on  what the next steps should be . There's more from PEFC here. Image is by Nejc Mrežar, a runner up in the 2019 ‘Experience Forests, Experience PEFC’ photo contest,
Master of None?
For the longest time, mankind has tried to master Nature. History is littered with men who boast the ability to wrestle Nature and seize control of the four elements – Shamans, witchdoctors, seers, rain makers, wizards, sorcerers and more. These individuals who supposedly have the power to call upon the wind and the rain for help in dire times, like during a drought so that crops and farm animals can be saved. Or be asked to summon fiery dragons and other celestial creatures to fell enemy kingdoms during battles for supremacy. History will also tell you that these don’t always work to one’s favour, perhaps because the rival may have engaged a more powerful sorcerer.
"Let Nature takes its course and let us acknowledge that if we don’t work in harmony with Nature for the greater good of our planet, we would end up master of none. Zero."









Read the rest of this "thought-piece" from Kaia. Described as "a passionate group of friends, madly in love with their planet", Kaia believes that to make change happen for the environment, people need to be inspired and equipped with the right solutions.
Put Pen to Paper: Power of the Printing Press
A new regular feature on the true value of paper:
As we are true believers when it comes to paper - books, printed material, cardboard packaging, recycling - we will continue to share with you news, ideas and opportunities to promote the continued use of this sustainable and responsibly sourced material.
Paper advocacy group in the United Kingdom, Two Sides is continuing with its successful ‘Love Paper’ campaign. Love Paper is part of a global initiative to increase consumer awareness of the sustainability of print, paper and paper packaging.The new campaign comes with a brand new identity, newly-designed print ads, a new consumer-focused website ( www.lovepaper.org ) featuring a paper ‘fact file’ as well as inspiring blogs and stories, a captivating animated video, plus many new digital tools to help reach and inform wider audiences. The Love Paper campaign relaunches at a time of unprecedented media and public debate about sustainable products, materials and packaging. More from Two Sides in the United Kingdom.
Cartonboard packaging is proving to be an essential item that is helping to maintain an effective supply chain for food and pharmaceutical products during the Covid-19 crisis.
Print and paper advocacy group, Two Sides, is excited to announce its newest member from the packaging sector, ECMA: The European Carton Makers Association. ECMA is the international network of folding carton organisations. ECMA represents around 500 carton producers across Europe who account for around 70% of the total carton market volume in Europe and employ a workforce of about 50,000 people. Consumers, brands and advertisers are increasingly conscious of the environmental impacts of the products and materials they use and consume. Paper packaging’s unique sustainable features – renewability, recyclability and biodegradability – give it a natural advantage. Read all about it.
Here's a message for Amazon.com and co! Biblio is committed to preserving the environment. The first bookselling marketplace to offer carbon-offsetting on all orders shipped through its site. This programme,  ecosend , is accomplished in partnership with  Native Energy, whose projects include building sustainable communities. Biblio also offsets carbon emissions from internal operations, practice recycling, energy-efficiency, compost, paper reduction where possible, and encourage buying local to reduce the carbon footprint. Read more about Biblio.com
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.
The UNLEASH Covid-19 Hack, held on 28/29 March, was a global digital hackathon designed to collectively address some of the challenges humanity is facing due to the spread and effect of the Covid-19 virus. By leveraging the community and methodology of the UNLEASH Innovation Lab, it is built on robust foundations and can be adapted to local needs. Through a collaborative 2-day event, organised with global UNLEASH Alumni, passionate talents had the opportunity to work together in addressing challenges linked to the current global pandemic affecting societies, communities and economies. 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'. 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 , originally planned for early March 2020, has been rescheduled. Please visit here for the latest updates. 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.
Now rescheduled to 30 June, 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 - now re-scheduled to 7- 8 September 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.
Sustainability Events in September in Singapore
Sustainability in Packaging Asia 2020, originally planned for June, has been rescheduled to 21-24 September 2020. The organising team has been working diligently to maintain the integrity of this event in the midst of the disruption caused by COVID-19. Asia is becoming a key arena for sustainability discussions. Go here for more.
The sustainability challenges we face are not tomorrow’s agenda. They’re pressing on us today. CSR Asia Summit 2020 unveils new content anchored around the region’s most effective and enjoyable networking. Scheduled for 23-24 September in Singapore, find out more here .

International Built Environment Week in Singapore will showcase the latest innovations in sustainability, advanced construction, digitalisation and smart facilities management. It is expected to bring together 14,000 delegates from across the globe.  Scheduled for 1-4 September.
Clean Energy, Green World & Responsible Travel
The Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW), the annual platform for energy professionals, policymakers and commentators to share best practices and solutions within the global energy space. First held in 2008, SIEW is organised by the Singapore Energy Market Authority (EMA), a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Our main goals are to ensure a reliable and secure energy supply, promote effective competition in the energy market and develop a dynamic energy sector in Singapore. Scheduled to be held in Singapore 26-30 October.
Green World Asia is Asia Pacific's leading b2b sustainable business platform connecting senior decision makers and their procurement chains to the companies providing innovative solutions across utilities, materials, resources and food waste ecosystems. Planned as an exhibition/conference for the first time in November 2020, the new event is now being rescheduled for 2021 – due to the unsettling coronavirus outbreak - with dates to be advised. ABC Carbon Express/SASA is both Brand Ambassador and Media Partner. More here. 
ITB Asia is an annual three day B2B trade show and convention for the travel industry, designed to become the primary event for the Asia Pacific travel industry. Now in its twelfth year in Singapore, ITB Asia will be taking place at Marina Bay Sands on 21 to 23 October. It is organised by Messe Berlin (Singapore) Pte Ltd and supported by the Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau. The Conference Programme features 270 speakers within three days, delivering over 7,000 minutes of content from a diverse range of MICE, Leisure and Corporate topics.  There's more on ITB Asia.
Last Word: For Global Good
Transforming architecture and urbanism in Asia is a big ask, but Nirmal Kishnani has made a very promising start with his book “Ecopuncture”, with the support of Interface. Since 2002, he has been advising on projects and influencing polices that shape design practice. He’s also the editor in chief of FuturArc magazine . Besides all that, he teaches sustainability at the National University of Singapore. He describes Ecopuncture as “acupuncture for the built environment. Every designed object affects the wider condition within which it is nested. Each insertion enhances the connectedness of the social and ecological systems, seeking postive reciprocity and strengthening the whole.” Amply illustrated and attractively produced, this book is essential reading for all architects, developers and urban planners.  Read all about it.

Mapping the Future Together: Little did she know when she wrote the book to come out this January, that the year would start with out of control wild-fires in Australia and a menacing global outbreak of a new virus which originated in China. While she says we are "addicted to prediction" and "desperate for certainty", there's no way we can forecast precisely when and where the next disaster will strike. As for climate change - which she recognises as "real" - there's no way we can predict "when extreme weather events will destroy which harvests". The book is full of warnings and wise counsel from Margaret Heffernan - an entrepreneur, CEO, business advisor and TED talker - and as with previous books like "A Bigger Prize", it's full of personalised business case studies, which are not only very well-told, but hit the mark for those of us struggling to come to terms with the past and present, let alone the unfathomable future.  Get more from Simon and Schuster.
Introducing Sustainable Solutions
In recent weeks, we've met a bunch of enthusiastic young people in Singapore with great ideas and sustainable solutions. See what they're up to:
Kaia - see "Master of None?" above - have come up with a Plastic Recycling Model that makes sense. Kaia is ready to work together with others - groups and individuals - to turn plastic waste into useful and attractive products. We're impressed with the look and feel of what Kaia has created.
We met Josie Stoker at the Singapore Airshow where she was demonstrating how to track, reduce & remove everyday emissions. She and colleague Aziz have created the Capture app to empower people striving to cut their emissions. Read all about it & join The Capture Club.
Monsoon Tea was founded by Kenneth Rimdahl and Vorakan Wongfu (Aek) in 2013. So impressed by “Miang” (fermented tea leaves) from wild and free-grown tea plants and the sustainable way it is grown in Thailand, they set up Monsoon Tea , and the concept of sustainable teas.
SusGain rewards you for the little steps you take towards living more sustainably. But it doesn’t stop there; making green businesses your preferred choice will increase the available options in Singapore. In addition, it will also trigger more support for good green causes.