Distinguished Guests,

Industry Leaders,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Evening.

Introduction

1 I am glad to be here today to join you at the 2nd Singapore Green Summit. This is an important occasion for us to recognize companies that have made outstanding contributions to our environmental sustainability.

The Imperative to Act

2 Indeed, the imperative for sustainable development has never been stronger. Globally, the pressures of population growth and urbanization on scarce resources have become clearly evident. For instance, the price of oil per barrel has increased by 5 times¹ within a short 5-year period, and looks set to increase further. There are now similar pressures on arable land and the price of food. Growing international awareness of the challenges of climate change is also likely to lead to a new global regime on carbon, with far-reaching implications for businesses worldwide.

3 As a small country that imports most of its food and energy needs, Singapore will be significantly affected by these global developments. Within Singapore, further population and economic growth will also exert pressures on our scarce land resources as well as strain our environmental quality.

Priorities for Sustainable Development

4 Despite this, we believe that it is still possible for us to continue to grow, prosper and have a good quality of life, if we can continue to accord emphasis to maintaining a high quality living environment. In the last 40 years, Singapore has adopted sound sustainable development principles to achieve a sustainable balance between economic growth and a good quality living environment. Going forward, more must be done. In this regard, I would like to take the opportunity of this gathering to highlight two key areas where joint action between the private sector and the Government can make a difference to our sustainable development effort.

5 The first area is in resource efficiency. The pressures on resources, especially energy resources, are likely to intensify. Shell, for instance, estimates that after 2015, supplies of easy-to-access oil and gas will no longer keep up with demand. In this resource constrained world, resource efficiency will be a major factor affecting the relative cost competitiveness of economies, as well as businesses. It thus makes economic sense for Singapore to redouble its effort to enhance resource efficiency, especially in energy efficiency.

6 Industries and businesses play a major role in our national resource efficiency efforts. By investing in new technologies and processes to make operations more resource efficient, you can make your businesses much more productive and competitive. Many companies now realize that the longer-term tangible energy cost savings often outweighs the short-term cost of adopting new technologies. Indeed, the businesses with foresight to invest early in energy efficiency will emerge as competitive and resilient in a future where energy prices are expected to stay high.

7 Let me give you concrete examples from some of the Singapore Environmental Achievement Award winners to illustrate that it is possible for industries to achieve a quantum leap in resource efficiency. Sony Display Device (Singapore), a 2005 award winner, has established programmes for energy, water and paper resource conservation that reduced energy consumption by 35%, water consumption by 78%, waste generation by 43% and paper consumption by 26% within fiscal year 2004, as compared to its 2001 consumption. Another award winner in 2006, Systems on Silicon Manufacturing, launched a 4 year environmental programme that allowed it to save over 10.5 million kwh of electricity per year, which is equivalent to the total energy consumption of over 2,000 4-room HDB flats per year. Such environmental programmes certainly need not be at the expense of profitability. One of this year’s applicants, Grand Hyatt Singapore, invested S$3.5 million into a new efficient cooling system that delivers annual saving in utility costs of over S$1.2 million at 2001 utility prices. This works out to a payback of less than 3 years as oil prices have risen further since then.

8 To facilitate the effort by industries and businesses to achieve greater energy efficiency, the Government has made available funds for companies to tap on, such as a $50 million Sustainable Energy Fund and a $10million Energy Efficiency Improvement Assistance scheme. There is also a $20million Green Mark Incentive scheme to encourage building owners to aim for higher environmental performances for their buildings. In addition, the government has and will continue to invest in research and development efforts to find energy efficient solutions suitable for our local context that can be made available for businesses here.

9 The second area is in maintaining the current environmental quality in Singapore. Through good land use planning, the implementation of robust environmental infrastructure and a set of pollution standards, Singapore has managed to maintain a clean and liveable environment in tandem with population and economic growth. Today, Singapore is recognised internationally as an economically vibrant and yet liveable, clean and green city. Our liveable environment has also become a key comparative advantage for companies here in their talent attraction efforts. For instance, in a survey of executives conducted by Hudson Consulting in Hong Kong in 2006, 44% of those surveyed cited air pollution as a contributing factor causing expatriates to leave Hong Kong. The same survey showed that Singapore is the favoured destination for relocation to another country. A recent survey released by ECA International in March 2008 also ranked Singapore as the best place to live in for Asian expatriates.

10 We cannot take our clean and liveable environment for granted. Just as our environment has been an important competitive asset in the attraction of talents to Singapore, we would look to the support of industries and businesses to work with us to maintain the quality of our living environment, as our economy grows further. In this regard, we hope that industries aim to not only meet existing pollution control regulations and standards, but also seek to constantly improve the environmental performance of their operations where possible.

Conclusion

11 Environmental sustainability is a joint responsibility and a challenge that the public, private and people sectors must jointly tackle. I am therefore gratified by the efforts of the various award-winning companies today. You are the pace setters who will catalyze change in your respective sectors for a more sustainable future.

12 I would also like to commend the efforts of the Singapore Environment Council in organizing these awards since 1997. With a strong 3P effort, Singapore can be more economically vibrant, yet more liveable, in the years ahead.

13 Finally, let me offer my heartiest congratulations to this year’s award winners and short listed finalists. I wish you all a pleasant evening.

Thank you.

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