PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Launch of Clean and Green Singapore 2010

I am very happy to join you this evening for the launch of Clean and Green Singapore 2010 and to particularly have such nice weather this evening. This is the 11th year that I have been launching either the Clean and Green Singapore or its predecessor, the Clean and Green Week. Every year, we hold it in a different place. This year, we have chosen the HortPark. It is new. It had a soft opening last year in December and in less than a year, the park has already attracted a million visitors and they have come to see colourful theme gardens and display pots which are constantly being refreshed. It is fast becoming a venue for weddings and bridal photography.

Each year, we are adding to our green spaces and our blue places. We are developing gardens, park connectors and Active, Beautiful and Clean waters all over Singapore. And we are going to have more parks and more waters coming up soon, for example, Gardens by the Bay and the Kallang River - Bishan Park so that more people can enjoy a better living environment. Despite rapid development and intense urbanisation, we are protecting our environment to the limit of our ability. Partly we have done this through long term planning and careful government implementation. But most importantly, we have done this through community support, because without Singaporeans helping to keep our environment pristine, parks would soon become despoiled and our waters will soon become polluted.

Fortunately, we continue to have a supportive and active community. Many volunteers are helping in our parks and nature reserves. We have had a very enthusiastic response to the NParks Community-in-Bloom programme, which is a gardening programme to get residents to get-together and pretty up little plots of land, on the sides of roads, street corners, little parks, to make them beautiful, make them looked owned, show that the neighbourhood cares for the environment that they are in. The Individuals and groups have come together to design, develop and maintain community gardens in public spaces and we now have more than 300 Community-in-Bloom groups and some of them in Seletar, in my constituency, and they have done very well and given the tremendous sense of pride and satisfaction of the residents. Many people have also joined the Plant-a-Tree (PAT) programme which we launched just two years ago. The programme has received generous pledges from over 800 companies and individuals to plant more than 8,000 trees so far.

At the constituency level too, much work has been done and I would like to especially mention Woodlands Constituency, one of this year’s CGS Awards winners. Last year, Woodlands Constituency rolled out 35 environmental programmes for residents, promoting recycling, energy efficiency and hygiene. It also organised Environment Day at Woodlands to raise public awareness of environmental issues. So may I congratulate Woodlands Constituency and all the other winners of the CGS Awards this year.

We are doing well but we need to look ahead and prepare for future challenges. And one of the biggest challenges ahead of us, indeed in many countries, in climate change. The global community of nations is focused on this challenge. Countries are intensely discussing this issue. The leaders will be meeting in Copenhagen in December to discuss it. And in Singapore’s own neighbourhood, regional cooperation is also vital.

The ASEAN +3 Environment Ministers met in Singapore this week to discuss ways to protect the environment and we are happy to have them here this evening with us, enjoying CG Singapore. Singapore is a tiny country. Our carbon emissions are a negligible part of global emissions – less than 0.2 per cent. Furthermore, we are not an Annex I country under the Kyoto Protocol. If you are in Annex 1, you would have an international obligation under the treaty to make absolute cuts in your carbon emissions. That means whatever number you had before, you must make that number smaller. Singapore is not an Annex I country to the treaty, so we do not have this obligation. Also, unlike many bigger countries, we face serious limitations in switching to alternative energy sources or reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. We do not have geo-thermal energy, we do not have mountains and rivers where you can generate hydro-electric energy, we do not have space where you can put a nuclear power station. All we have are power stations in Singapore which import either gas or oil or some other fossil fuel, and have to burn that so that we can make a living for ourselves. We are what you would call alternative-energy disadvantaged. The Almighty has not been fair to us but nevertheless, we are a responsible member of the international community and we have to bear the 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, together with other countries, to reduce human-kind CO2 emissions.

This year, we launched the Sustainable Development Blueprint and this is a major national effort to reduce emissions. We are now carefully studying whether we can do more. But the Sustainable Development Blueprint was already a substantial commitment, because it was not only just a whole-of-government effort, involving all the Ministries and agencies, but was also drawn up together with the people and private sectors – that means the NGOs with the general public, with the business community to see together, what we could do in Singapore.

We set out some targets in the Sustainable Development Blueprint. And these are not easy targets to meet. If we have to tighten them further, it will even be more challenging to meet. To achieve these targets, we will need changes in lifestyles, in consumption habits, and industry practices as well. Every household, every business and every industry must do their part, to achieve this national reduction in emissions.

One key recommendation in the Blueprint is to use resources more efficiently, and especially to use energy more efficiently. This is something that all of us can do. For example, households can contribute through good conservation habits. There are many ways to save energy, and thereby to save money and help the environment. For example you can buy energy efficient appliances, use a fan instead of an air-conditioner and switch off appliances when you are not using them. And when you are leaving the house, switch it off at the mains instead of leaving it on standby. These are lifestyle changes that may need some effort, but they can be done and they can save you money, electricity costs and it will help the environment, by reducing CO2 emissions. I encourage you to visit the Eco-Home Exhibition to learn of eco-friendly appliances and practices – that is for households.

The industry sector is also a major consumer, and they too can also do more. We will launch an Energy Efficiency National Partnership (EENP) Programme. The programme will help companies to set energy efficiency goals and implement energy productivity improvement projects and I hope industries will support this strongly. It makes sense for you and it makes sense for the country.

Through all our initiatives over the years, we have progressively transformed Singapore into a City of Gardens and of Water. Looking ahead, we must learn to develop sustainably as well. The Government is coming up with programmes, but these programmes need support from the people sector and the private sector to make them work. I am confident that we can achieve our goals by working together so let us put our efforts together, do it cohesively and ensure a clean and green Singapore for many generations to come. Thank you very much.