STATEMENT BY H.E. BURHAN GAFOOR, AMBASSADOR AND PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS, AT THE HIGH-LEVEL SDG ACTION EVENT ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA, NEW YORK, 23 MARCH 2017

President of the General Assembly,

Secretary-General,

Excellencies,

1.              Climate change is a reality.  Since 1948, we have seen an average 0.25ºC rise in temperature per decade.  The impacts of climate change make achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals more challenging.  Climate change worsens poverty and hunger, reduces access to clean water and sanitation, impedes economic growth and decent employment, and devastates our health and general well-being.

2.              Global problems require global solutions.  We cannot afford to retreat from a rules-based multilateral system.  We must implement the Paris Agreement on climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  Many small countries, including small islands like Singapore, face vulnerabilities that need to be urgently addressed.  We must all do our part.

3.              Singapore is fully committed to implementing the Paris Agreement, which we signed on 22 April 2016 and ratified on 21 September 2016.  Notwithstanding our constraints in switching to cleaner sources of energy, we have committed, as part of our Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC, to reduce our emissions intensity by 36% from 2005 levels by 2030, and stabilise emissions with the aim of peaking around 2030.  We have adopted a multi-pronged set of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies to implement this.

4.              First, given our lack of access to alternative energy options, a key focus is improving our energy efficiency through regulations, incentives, financing options, and capability development schemes.  Singapore believes in pricing our resources right to encourage sustainable consumption.  We do not subsidise the use of energy.  We recently announced our intention to implement a carbon tax on GHG emissions from 2019.  A carbon tax will provide a price signal on GHG emissions to incentivise businesses to improve their energy efficiency and invest in low carbon solutions.  These steps can sometimes be politically difficult, but we know they are the right thing to do.

5.              A carbon tax will complement current efforts across sectors such as industry, transport and buildings.  The Energy Conservation Act requires energy-intensive industrial companies to appoint an energy manager and to submit energy use reports and energy efficiency improvement plans annually.  Enhancements to the Act were announced earlier this month to improve the quality of measurement and reporting processes to help companies understand and manage their energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.  Minimum Energy Performance Standards for common industrial systems and equipment such as motors will be introduced, to phase the industry towards more energy efficient equipment and systems.  There are also grants to co-fund energy audits and energy efficiency projects, and a pilot private financing programme to promote energy efficiency.

6.              We are actively promoting the use of public transport, which generates less carbon emissions per passenger compared to private cars, and encouraging more people to walk and cycle.  We aim to increase the public transport mode share during peak periods from 66% in 2015 to 75% by 2030.  To help achieve this target, we are doubling our rail network to about 360km by 2030.  We also encourage the shift to cleaner vehicles by providing tax rebates for low-emission vehicles, and levying surcharges for high-emission ones, through schemes like the Carbon Emissions-Based Vehicle Scheme.  To help consumers make better decisions and choose greener vehicles, we introduced the Fuel Economy Labelling Scheme which provides information on the fuel efficiency of each vehicle model.  We will roll out an electric car-sharing programme from the middle of this year, which will introduce as many as 1,000 shared electric cars and 2,000 charging points island-wide.  For public transport, we will step up from unitary trials to trial 50 diesel-hybrid and 60 electric buses over the next few years.

7.              In the buildings sector, there are close to 3,000 green buildings in Singapore, translating to one-third of Singapore’s total built area.  To encourage the development of buildings that attain a higher Green Mark rating, we have also introduced a set of Gross Floor Area incentives where the building developments with higher ratings will be granted additional floor area over and above the master plan.  We have set an ambitious target to green at least 80% of all buildings in Singapore by 2030.

8.              Second, we are reducing carbon emissions from our power generation, which is already 95% fuelled by natural gas – the cleanest form of fossil fuel.  We are adopting more efficient technologies and increasing the use of renewable energy sources.  Despite our small size and high urban density, we strive to increase adoption of solar energy.  There has been a significant growth in solar PV deployment in Singapore.  Our total installed capacity increased from 1.9 megawatt-peak in 2009 to 126 megawatt-peak in 2016.  We are working to more than double that to 350 megawatt-peak by 2020, which will be five percent of our peak electricity demand, and to 1 gigawatt-peak thereafter.  Given our land constraints, we launched a test-bed to study the feasibility of installing floating solar panels on our reservoirs, and explore their impacts on water quality and biodiversity.

9.              Third, we are developing and deploying cutting-edge low-carbon and energy technologies.  Singapore as a living lab has allowed companies and researchers to test new solutions in real-world infrastructure and facilities.  For example, the Nanyang Technological University's EcoCampus programme has provided the infrastructure for companies to test their latest technologies in smart building systems, renewable energy solutions, and electric vehicles.

10.          Fourth, we encourage collective action among our government agencies, individuals, businesses, and the community.  Singapore also collaborates internationally for capacity-building on climate change.  We regularly share our experiences, best practices and technical knowledge on climate change and green growth with other countries, and also learn from them.  Under the Singapore Cooperation Programme, we have shared our know-how on clean energy, emissions reductions, and broader sustainability and environmental issues with about 11,000 officials from fellow developing countries.

11.          Being a low-lying, densely-populated tropical island, Singapore is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including rising sea levels, more frequent and heavier storms, and increasing temperatures.  Therefore, ensuring our resilience to climate change is also a key priority.  We established the Centre for Climate Research Singapore to improve scientific understanding of tropical climate variability and its associated impacts on Singapore and the wider Southeast Asia region.  We strive to improve our resilience planning accordingly.

12.          Singapore is firmly committed to doing our part to combat climate change and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.  It will be challenging but we are confident that together with you, Mr President, the Fijian COP-23 Presidency, the United Nations family and all partners, we will succeed.  Thank you.

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