What are some of the core highlights of the past years for ERM Singapore, in light of the rapidly growing focus on decarbonization?
ERM inaugurated its presence in Singapore in 1996 and since last year we have almost doubled our team. We are mainly working on renewable power import projects, supporting clients in the area of environmental impact assessment and facilitating a smooth transition to clean power energy. Streamlining the process of importing green hydrogen as well as consulting on green loans have been important in our agenda during the past few years too. Corporate sustainability has seen rapid growth in Asia and helping clients manage their greenhouse gas emissions has become a main theme for us. Besides all of these, we have also been busy with sustainability reports, net zero and decarbonization strategies, circular economy plans and asset retirement.
What innovative technologies that can impact the landscape and what is ERM working on at the moment?
Although at our core we are predominantly a consulting company, we started investing in a number of technologies. One of them is Dolphyn, an offshore wind-mill project linked to green hydrogen with proprietary technology. Green hydrogen may not be as important in a country that already has plenty of renewable resources, but as Singapore has limited land for solar power, it becomes a serious option. There are many solutions out there, but they require changes in infrastructure and a constant effort from all the players in the value chain. Today, it is crucial that customers are willing to pay a premium fee in a context where fossil fuels are cheap and available.
From your international perspective, how important is policy in order to have a stable commitment towards green transition?
Policy is definitely one of the key pillars of the green transition. For example, circular economy policy is critical because plastic packaging is difficult to recycle - without a policy that makes producers retrieve and recycle them, packaging plastics will end up in the ocean or in landfills. Policy drives action through implementation enforcement, but the challenge is to align all the countries to have the same carbon tax regime or the same EPR.
The development of a country should go hand in hand with the acceleration towards the green transition, but, unfortunately, not all the states of the developed world have a solid carbon tax in place.
Countries are opting for local supply chains because they have been too reliant on the Asian market - does this shift affect the market in any way?
My personal view is that it is not possible to completely prevent free trade from happening. In Singapore, importing electricity is one of the options to diversify our energy sources. Localizing supply chains is not viable in the long run, as countries closing their borders would make the world a very different place - we have experienced this with the pandemic in the past two years already.
Are there some specific countries that have a bigger demand for sustainable products?
From what we have observed, the demand can be better understood at a company level rather than at a country level as the landscape is not yet homogeneous. It all boils down to how eager the management is to lower their carbon footprint - often, they prefer to preserve the status quo and postpone new investments as long as possible because such a shift requires heavy funding and effort. However, the carbon footprint per capita index is not necessarily relevant or the best example is Singapore – based on the Singapore National Climate Change Secretariat data, it indicates 45% of emissions is resulted from the refining and petrochemical industry in Jurong island. This industry has been the backbone of the country's development for decades, a fact that cannot be easily overlooked.
What are some of the developments that you are looking forward to in the next few years?
From our perspective, the government support regarding decarbonization is set to bring great developments in the industry. Raising the tax from SG$ 5 a ton to SG$ 50-80 a ton by 2030 is definitely going to push companies to change the way in which they conduct business, ultimately realizing that they play an important part in combating climate change. Overall, I am very optimistic regarding the market development in Singapore, and at ERM we are more than ready to help accelerate the green transition.
