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The Future for Decarbonisation in Singapore
Written by Ismail Weiliang and Noor Hisyamuddin, Infrastructure Advisory Consultant, KPMG Singapore.
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ISMAIL WEILIANG
The Climatebender
RYAN LIANG
Inland Modeller
Views are entirely ours
and not connected to any company
Decarbonisation
The new Future Energy Fund was just announced at Budget 2024. The new Future Energy Fund can be channeled to strengthen critical energy infrastructure for clean carbon solutions such as geo-thermal, small modular nuclear and imported renewable energy. This is to accelerate efforts in decarbonisation for Singapore.
Decarbonisation is the process of reducing/eliminating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from human activities (such as power plants, transportation, building facilities) to mitigate impact of climate change. Strategies involve energy transition to clean/green energy (renewables/nuclear), increasing energy efficiency by improving processes or advancing tech. Besides just doing for a social cause, companies are increasingly looking for ways to decarbonize to comply with the stricter regulations/fines implemented by countries/governments.
Challenges
Overcoming financial barriers and convincing stakeholders of the long-term benefits of decarbonisation remain a challenge. For example, doing Business Case Assessments (BCA) and justifying the Return of Investments (ROI) for implementing certain solutions. At the end of the day a business is still a business with profits to ensure, even for schools (IHLs). For countries (developing countries) where their governments are not even imposing regulations/fines yet for carbon emissions, there is little incentive for companies there to invest for decarbonisation. But where there’s challenges there are also opportunities. For example: Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) that you get from producing renewable energy from these countries (in South East Asia) are cheaper than RECs in SG. So there is a profitable reason for companies in these countries to invest in renewables (they can sell the RECs to us and make money from it).
The Future
There is optimism about the future of decarbonisation despite the push backs that we see and the challenges we still face for certain countries. As technology continues to advance and public awareness grows, we expect to see a more widespread adoption of clean energy solutions. There are still a lot of hurdles to overcome as with any global cooperation, but at the end of the day, the shift toward a sustainable, low-carbon future is inevitable and crucial for addressing climate change. It’s not if but when, and hopefully not too late.
Authors:
Noor Hisyamuddin is an infratech and asset management consultant who works across the infrastructure sector enabling clients to maximize the value of their assets. An engineer by training, he is an experienced professional from the transport industry where he has managed operations, maintenance, and asset renewal projects.
Ismail Weiliang is a consultant that provides technical advice on climate resilience with half a decade of experience in flood risk advisory for Asia. He also founded "The Climatebender” a non-profit organisation that provides humanitarian relief to communities vulnerable to the climate crisis.
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