Accelerating Action At Scale

Mr Teo Chee Hean, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

A very warm welcome to all of you. I am delighted to see so many of you in person, but I’m pleased that Ecosperity’s hybrid format allows delegates from many countries to join our discussions. So, good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, to everyone!

The theme for this eighth edition of Ecosperity is Accelerating Action At Scale. It reflects the brisk activities needed in the race for net zero, as countries transition to more sustainable economies.

Even as we learn to live with COVID-19, it is vital that we stay focused on the climate agenda, because we are seeing energy consumption and carbon emissions soar way beyond pre-COVID levels.

Many of us are well aware why climate action needs to be dialled-up, and on a broader scale, amid the looming climate crisis.

Last year was possibly a record year for net zero pledges. This tempo is indicative of a growing collective awareness by countries and businesses to do more on climate action, and to do it faster, because time is running out.

In Singapore, the government announced in February that the carbon tax will be progressively raised to meet Singapore’s target of achieving net zero by 2050.

Temasek welcomes this announcement about the carbon tax. Putting an appropriate price on carbon helps to better guide investment and operational decisions. We set our own internal carbon price of US$42 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent last year and will look to increase this progressively over this decade.

The carbon tax will allow us to model the likely future impact of carbon pricing on the investments that Temasek makes, while recognising the societal costs that emissions will impose over time.

Singapore’s net zero ambitions set a specific timeframe for businesses in Singapore to work towards. For Temasek, the quest to net zero began a few years ago when, having achieved carbon neutrality, we committed to aim for a net zero portfolio by 2050.

The net zero pledges in Singapore and across the planet are important signals to the market to accelerate change. The key levers to accelerate climate action are in three areas - technology, policy, and green financing.

Technology
Technology can help transform words into deeds. Given time and funding, novel solutions in areas ranging from food and renewable energy to materials and much more, have demonstrated how technology can deliver sustainable solutions.

There are many companies working on new forms of technology whose efforts could benefit from the catalytic effects of angel and early-stage investors. Catalytic capital can make a difference, when injected in meaningful amounts, and at critical junctures of the life cycle of such enterprises.

It is essential that start-ups are given maximum opportunities for success, and we hope events like Ecosperity can catalyse the success of budding new ideas.

Policy frameworks
Policy frameworks need to facilitate the adoption of new standards for sustainable solutions.

Let me illustrate why the right policy frameworks are vital:

• If you are flying across oceans on an airliner powered by sustainable aviation fuel made from waste cooking oil and animal fats, you want assurance that the fuel is safe;
• The battery in an electric vehicle needs to be certified for performance and fire safety, before you buy it;
• And low carbon cement would need to be rigorously tested and certified by building authorities before it can be used for structures.

So, policy frameworks, backed by testing, must move quickly. Technology will present sustainable solutions that are so innovative that they fall outside current regulations, but we need to find the balance to allow early adoption of safe transformative technologies.

Financing
There is also an important role for finance. Deployment of capital must be thoughtful, because the solutions will have a trajectory of their own, and can lock in decisions for decades.

Backing a source of renewable energy will see heavy investments in infrastructure tailored for a specific power source. Such decisions are difficult to unwind, because a powerplant, for instance, configured for one energy source cannot be reconfigured for another without significant cost.

Evolution of Ecosperity
No one has a monopoly on ideas. We value the exchange of ideas and international collaboration that sustainability-themed forums and global summits aim to nurture.

At last month’s World Economic Forum in Davos, there were calls to go beyond net zero, to net-negative if the 1.5 degrees target is to be achieved. We hear this message loud and clear.

Recent Ecosperity themes show how the agenda at such events has raised the level of ambition. In 2019, we talked about translating Ambition to Action. Last year, we reflected on moving From Crisis to Opportunity. This year sees Ecosperity committed to Accelerating Action at Scale.

Ecosperity Week this year will dive into tangible solutions for the energy transition, decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors like transportation and the heavy industry, and in financing Asia’s green transition.

Many delegates will also be involved in activities on the sidelines. These include a key announcement by the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, better known as GFANZ, and the convening of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore’s International Advisory Panel that will look at sustainable air hubs.

Carbon market events will also feature prominently. This follows the launch yesterday of GenZero, Temasek’s carbon solutions platform that will spearhead our efforts to catalyse decarbonisation solutions and the carbon market ecosystem. Through GenZero, Temasek will support the global transition to a low carbon economy across the carbon value chain.

Conclusion
At Ecosperity last year, I described climate as the most critical element of our shared, collective future.

There are no returns from a dead planet. We stand at a watershed moment where actions taken today, to address the climate crisis, will define the future for generations to come. Our shared commitment to accelerated climate action is critical as it will help shape a more sustainable world.

On that note, I am heartened to see a record number of partners at Ecosperity Week. And I thank them all for their continued support.

It leaves me now to wish all of you a successful and meaningful Ecosperity. Thank you.