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

Climate Change in Singapore

Speaker: Dr Elspeth Thomson, Senior Fellow, Energy Studies Institute (ESI)

Venue: ISEAS Seminar Room II

According to the fourth assessment report (AR4) of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the effects of climate change have already been observed. Climate change is considered to be one of the most serious threats to sustainable development, with adverse impacts expected on the environment, human health, food security, economic activity, natural resources and physical infrastructure. Scientific findings indicate that precautionary and prompt action is necessary.

Singapore is almost totally reliant on cross-border trade for raw material and food stuffs. W e are also directly affected by the environmental and ecological challenges facing our neighbours. Our small land area and close proximity to neighbouring ASEAN countries makes our economy even more vulnerable to the extremes of climate change and serve to remind us that our environment is tied to the environmental changes of our Southeast Asian neighbours.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) w ith the support of the Government of the United Kingdom recently released a Regional Review of the Economics of Climate Change in Southeast Asia. Dr Thomson will present highlights from the Singapore contribution to this report.

For more details on the seminar, visit the ISEAS website.

Source: ISEAS