Climate change a challenge for Singapore

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges ahead for Singapore and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the country will bear its fair share of the global effort to reduce emissions.

This is despite the fact that Singapore's carbon emissions are a 'negligible' part of global output and it is not among nations which committed themselves and were obliged to make specific cuts in greenhouse gas emission levels.

'We don't have this obligation,' he noted on Friday in a reference to what is known as Annex I countries. 'But as a responsible member of the international community, we have to bear our fair share of the collective global effort to reduce carbon emissions.

'Therefore, provided other countries also commit to do their part in a global deal, we will reduce emissions from 'business-as-usual' levels and do what we need to do with other countries to reduce humankind's carbon-dioxide emissions.'

Speaking at the launch of the Clean and Green 2010 campaign at the HortPark on Thursday, Mr Lee said that Singapore faced serious limitations in switching to alternative energy sources or reducing its dependence on fossil fuels.