November 16, 2007 (Mondovisione) – The National University of Singapore (NUS) Risk Management Institute (RMI) and Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) announced today that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on financial research. The aim is to create innovative financial products to facilitate risk management and generate additional trading opportunities for investors. Initial research projects include property derivatives, Asian credit derivatives and carbon trading.
Category Archives: Singapore
ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Sustainability
November 23, 2007 (TodayOnline) – Amid the mixed emotions at Asean’s highly eventful 13th Summit — with Myanmar’s intransigence the mood dampener — significant agreements and declarations were announced at the end of the meeting and the related gatherings.
Their respective agendas should prompt us to examine the issues and initiatives these regional security frameworks have identified to respond to pressing security challenges confronting the region today. The salient question is whether these regional structures are prepared and equipped to respond to the host of security threats that have emerged on the horizon.
Three key issues dominated the meeting this week: Climate change, energy and the environment. At the end of the Asean Summit, the leaders adopted the “Asean Declaration on Environmental Sustainability”.
Singapore Exchange eyes carbon trading
November 21, 2007 (New Values Net) – Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) could become the latest in a long line of trading platforms to offer carbon contracts after announcing it is conducting research into creating a range of financial derivatives, including property derivatives, Asian credit derivatives and carbon trading.
The exchange said in a joint press release today that it has signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on research with the National University of Singapore.
“Singapore, with its central geographical location and expertise in oil and commodities trading, is well-placed to facilitate carbon trading and to support the region in greenhouse gas mitigation. In collaboration with SGX, NUS researchers who are currently studying carbon trading hope to contribute to the efforts in developing Singapore as a hub for carbon trading,” the release said.
Philippines President Arroyo to press environment issues in Singapore
November 18, 2007 (Inquirer) – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is expected to follow up in Singapore environmental issues concerning Southeast Asia, including the need for renewable sources of energy and the conservation of coastal and marine ecosystems.
At a briefing Saturday on the series of summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations scheduled here on Nov. 19-22, Filipino journalists were told that Ms Arroyo’s first meeting was expected to cover environmental issues.
New energy policy will let Singaporeans choose electricity providers
November 13, 2007 (CSR Asia) – Singapore has just launched a new National Energy Policy Report (available at http://www.mti.gov.sg) unveiling six key strategies an inter-ministry group called the Energy Policy Group will focus on. Attracting most attention is news that households in Singapore will be able to choose their electricity supplier, which theoretically will give them the option to choose ‘greener’ providers. The report also includes policies on energy efficiency and growing the renewable energy sector. A review of the report will be included in next week’s CSR Asia Weekly.
New Asian Cities Go Green, Pursue Sustainable Design
November 6, 2007 (Architectural Record) – The word “sustainable” is not often used to describe the pollution-choked cities of Asia, but the continent is poised to host a new generation of green cities that right the wrongs of industrial-era urban planning. The question “Could we do better?” motivated New York-based SHoP Architects to take on one such project, the high-tech Sector 61 node of Gurgaon, India.
“We feel like if you can set a good example there, with all the building that’s about to occur, you can have a much bigger impact than designing some LEED Platinum building here in New York,” says SHoP co-founder Gregg Pasquarelli.
Sector 61 is one among a series of commissions in which internationally known designers are creating whole neighborhoods and cities to capture and direct Asia’s sudden urbanization. Other examples include the Shanghai satellite city Dongtan, designed by Arup, and the competition for a 1.6 million-square-foot eco-quarter in Singapore, recently won by Foster + Partners.
Images: Courtesy Balmori Associates
Balmori Associates’ in-house studio Balmorilab teamed with Haeahn Architecture and H Associates to design the Public Administration Town district of Multi-Functional Administrative City in South Korea. Roughly 9.7 million square feet of buildings will be sheltered by a nearly continuous green roof, nestled into the landscape.
Cashing in on China’s Demand for Clean Water
Water treatment could be clean tech’s next big growth sector in the mainland, as economic expansion has led to shortages
November 6, 2007 (BusinessWeek) – Singapore’s first desalination plant opened in 2003. It was located on a piece of land in the island-state’s west that had itself been reclaimed from the sea some years before. The plant is now contracted to turn seawater into 136,000 cubic meters of drinking water a day for the resource-strapped island-state.
The plant is surprisingly quiet. It operates with hardly any noise and is run by just 10 workers. Add a perpetual sea breeze and, as one staff member at the plant noted, it’s practically like being at a holiday resort.
Now, Hyflux, the company behind the Singapore plant, is building a similar facility in China’s coastal city of Tianjin to service a refinery owned by oil and gas giant Sinopec. It will be China’s largest seawater desalination plant, with an output of 100,000 cubic meters, when it is completed in 2009.
“The problems in China, especially environmental ones, are an opportunity for us,” said Sam Ong, Hyflux’s chief investment officer.
First-ever carbon trading deal signed in Singapore
November 5, 2007 (Channel News Asia) – A Singapore-based company, ecoWise, has tied up with Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Company to tackle climate change.
Under the four-year deal, the first to be signed in Singapore, ecoWise will trade carbon credits for Kansai, Japan’s second largest power firm.
The firm estimates it will need to procure up to 13 million carbon credits between now and 2012.
Singapore enterprises encouraged to tap into solar energy technology
November 5, 2007 (Channel News Asia) – At a renewable energy conference Monday, SPRING Singapore urged small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and businesses to tap into one of the most readily-available forms of fuel – solar energy.
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The agency has previously announced initiatives to provide not only financial backup, but also research and development support for SMEs in this sector.
And according to a study by the National University of Singapore (NUS), if all HBD blocks were equipped with solar panels, energy they tap from the sun could provide for at least half of the energy consumption needs of HDB households.
As part of the efforts to reduce dependence on fuel, Singapore is seeking to develop better technology in renewable energy.
China’s Perfect Field in US$1.8 billion S’pore solar deal
Chinese solar energy group Perfect Field Investment said it would take over Singapore’s Rowsley in a deal worth S$2.7 billion ($1.8 billion) to fund its expansion as demand for renewable energy products grows.The company will produce solar modules, solar cells and panels.
“We expect substantial growth in the solar cell industry in the coming years. This growth will be driven by accelerating global demand for renewable energy,” Rowsley Chief Executive Koh Kim Huat said in a statement.
Asia Cleantech 