JOURNEY TO NET ZERO: SINGAPORE’S LACKING PLAN

Abstract

The topic of global warming and climate change have become significantly more prevalent and prominent in recent years. With hard evidence proving that our planet has been getting warmer, paired with the fact that this incremental warming appears to have a negative impact, a number of countries over the world have adopted the Paris Agreement – a landmark international agreement on climate change. The goal of the agreement is to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions with the aim of limiting the global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius (°C), and preferably 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Therefore, in order to keep said target, in 2018 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) stated that countries must bring carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 (IPCC, 2018: Global warming of 1.5°C). In this case, ‘net zero’ simply refers to a state in which greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere are balanced by removal out of the atmosphere (Net Zero Climate, n.d.). With sustainability and global warming being a such an urgent topic in the day and age, many seek an answer to the question- Is net zero carbon emissions by 2050 possible? This paper will attempt to answer this question, specifically in the context and scope of Singapore’s contribution, goal, and initiatives.