Reframing the Climate Change Narrative

Venue: Seminar Room 3-1, Level 3, Manasseh Meyer, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, 469C Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259772

Speaker: Prof Arvind Subramanian, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development Senior Research Professor, Johns Hopkins University

and

Um Woochong, Deputy Director General, Regional and Sustainable Development Department Asian Development Bank

Synopsis: Thus far, international negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have focused on emission reductions, the “targets and timetables” for doing so, monitoring and compliance regimes, and incentives in the form of finance and carbon markets. The failure of the recent UNFCCC meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009 has highlighted the limitations of this approach.

In this lecture, Prof Subramanian will argue that the current approach of emphasising emission reductions creates a “zero sum” burden sharing arrangement in which countries do not benefit from being first movers, and which results in countries blaming one another for the climate change problem. The current narrative thus poisons the atmosphere for negotiations and makes it unlikely that a global deal would be reached. Prof Subramanian will propose a reframing of the climate change narrative — away from a singular emphasis on emission reductions towards clean technology development and diffusion, and equitable access to energy-based services for economic growth. He will also discuss how such an approach might gain traction in the aftermath of Copenhagen.

Notably, the Asian Development Bank is playing an important role in the very areas that Prof Subramanian sees as important in achieving traction on the climate change agenda. Given this, Mr Um Woochong, Deputy Director General of the Regional and Sustainable Development Department at the Asian Development Bank, will discuss how Asia is likely to be affected by climate change and the steps that the Asian Development Bank is taking to address the issue.

For details and registration, visit the LKYSPP website.

Source: LKYSPP

Methodological Approaches for Cost-Effective Carbon Trading

Venue: MEWR Theatrette, #4-00, Environment Building, 40 Scotts Road, Singapore 228231

Speaker: Sébastien Raoux, Ph.D., J.D., Esq., President & CEO, Transcarbon International Corporation

In this presentation, Dr. Raoux will review the essential elements of carbon trading methodologies and cover topics such as additionality, anti-gaming and capping procedures, the calculation of baseline and project emissions, and monitoring methodologies. He will pay particular attention to the issue of accuracy and uncertainty in the determination of emissions reduction, and examine the tradeoffs and procedures to optimize the cost effectiveness of carbon trading projects. He will illustrate the presentation with examples taken from existing CDM methodologies (Clean Development Mechanism), in particular related to the electronics and the high-tech industry, as well as energy and waste management.

For details and registration, visit the SEI website.

A Smart Energy Economy: Panel Discussion on ESC’s Recommendations on Energy Resilience and Sustainable Growth

Venue: National University of Singapore, The Auditorium, University Hall, Lee Kong Chian Wing, Level 2, 21 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119077

Join the panel discussion on the Economic Strategies Committee’s (ESC) recent recommendations on Energy Resilience and Sustainable Growth, moderated by Jessica Cheam, Correspondent, Straits Times, Money Desk. The panelists include:

• Prof. Linda Yuen-Ching Lim: Professor of Strategy at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan
• Dr. Natasha Hamilton-Hart: Associate Professor and Deputy Head in the Southeast Asian Studies Programme of the National University of Singapore
• Dr. Tilak Doshi: Chief Economist and Principal Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute
• Dr. Cheng-Guan Michael Quah: Chief Scientist and Principal Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute

Visit the Energy Studies Institute (ESI) website for details and registration.

The Water-Energy Nexus: Saving Water and Energy in Rice Production

Venue: ESI Conference Room, 29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Block A #10-01, Singapore 119620

Speaker: Dr. Bas Bouman, International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Philippines

The water-energy nexus is an understudied field. To oversimplify the issue, water is needed to produce en-ergy and energy is required to process and move water. Given this reality, there is a positive co-relation be-tween water and energy and thus, by default, between water consumption and greenhouse emissions. Con-sequently, efforts to decrease water consumption globally must be an integral part of the global efforts for mitigating the devastating greenhouse emissions and particularly global warming.

Added to growing consumption of water for personal and industrial purposes, food production is account-ing for major global water requirements. While many varieties of agricultural products of global demand (e.g., wheat and corn) are water-intensive, rice is especially so requiring much larger amount of water dur-ing the course of its production. It is therefore more energy-intensive than many other crops. Against this background, efforts to reduce water consumption for cultivating rice are especially important given the sheer size of the undertaking as the land used globally for such cultivation is about 150 million hectares producing around 600 million tons of rice for global consumption.

Visit the Energy Studies Institute (ESI) website for details and registration.

Source: Energy Studies Institute

Green Drinks Singapore – Jan 2010

From Green Drinks Singapore:

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Venue: Naive, 99 East Coast Road

This month, we are gathering all the green groups, societies, businesses and individuals with green values to talk about their plans for 2010, and explore ways we can all work together.

In particular, we are targetting to have ECO (Singapore), SEC, Nature Society (Singapore), Vegetarian Society (Singapore), Social Innovation Park, Food for All, green societies from the various tertiary institutions, various businesses, and individuals already well known in the green sphere. As always, everyone is welcome!

Let us have a meaningful greater conversation about what we can do together! Do spread the word, and we hope to see you there!

Foodwise, Naive has kindly put together a special three-course menu at the price of $18+ for those wishing to dine there.

How to get there: By bus- 10, 12, 14, 32, 40; By car- parking is available at Katong Mall and Katong Village

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(We are selling Al Gore’s new book, Our Choice, at Green Drinks to raise fund for the Haiti Earthquake relief operations. Have 40 copies of the book to sell at $50 each. 100% of profits will go to the Singapore Red Cross who will channel it to the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies.)

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