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IPCC report indicates Singapore could take bigger hits from climate change

SINGAPORE – The harshest impacts of climate change have been elsewhere so far, but a report published on Monday (Aug 9) indicates that Singapore must brace itself for tougher times ahead.

If planet-warming emissions do not come down to net-zero by around 2050, more punishing heatwaves, severe coastal flooding events, and bouts of heavier rain could be on the cards for this island.

“Cities intensify human-caused warming locally, and further urbanisation together with more frequent hot extremes will increase the severity of heatwaves,” noted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its summary for policymakers.

Singapore has already experienced warming higher than the global average because of the urban heat island effect – a phenomenon of urban structures trapping heat in the day and releasing it at night.

Local temperatures are 1.8 deg C higher than they were in 1948, data from the National Environment Agency’s Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) showed. In contrast, global temperatures have warmed by about 1.1 deg C from pre-industrial times, which ended around 1850.

And the Centre for Climate Research Singapore – a unit under the MSS – said the latest report suggests that even higher temperatures will be felt here in the coming decades.

This finding comes amid Singapore’s efforts to make the city cooler, through planting more trees in urban spaces and a pilot programme involving 130 Housing Board blocks in Tampines being coated with heat-reflective paint.

But Singapore Management University climate scientist Winston Chow, who is an expert on the impacts of climate change on cities, said temperatures above 35 deg C in Singapore would be an uncomfortable experience for many due to the humid environment.

Humidity magnifies thermal discomfort, said Prof Chow, who contributes to the IPCC reports.

But while humans can adapt to this with air-conditioning and shade, the country’s native flora and fauna cannot. “Our trees and animals on land and sea don’t have that luxury if there’s a prolonged heatwave.”

Another worrying indicator of climate change for the island will be the rising tides. As the world warms, ocean waters expand and land ice melts, raising water levels.

Global mean projections in the latest report, of sea levels rising up to about 1m by 2100, do not differ significantly from past IPCC reports. But there was more information about the possibility of extreme sea level events, which have low probability of happening but can be very damaging when they do.

Said the IPCC: “Extreme sea level events that occurred once per century in the recent past are projected to occur at least annually at more than half of all tide gauge locations by 2100.” Tide gauges are tools used by scientists to monitor changes in sea level relative to land.

The Centre for Climate Research Singapore said processes such as instabilities in marine ice cliffs – which are sea-facing blocks of ice that act as a “door-stopper” preventing land ice from entering the ocean – could potentially contribute more than one additional metre of sea level rise by the end of the 21st century, adding to the current projected global mean sea level rise.

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Professor Benjamin Horton, director of the Nanyang Technological University’s Earth Observatory of Singapore, who was a review editor for the chapter on sea level changes, said this was an ongoing area of study.

“Extrapolations from sparse observations of a poorly understood process mean that resulting predictions of ice cliff collapse on future sea level rise have deep uncertainty,” he said.

Scientists use observational data to develop and validate models, which are in turn used to make projections into the future. The lack of data may make it difficult to come up with such forecasts with any certainty.

Prof Horton said a big concern for the future is the melting of the planet’s two large ice sheets – Greenland and Antarctica. While melting has been mostly limited to mountain glaciers in the 20th century, he said satellite-based measurements of the ice sheets show that this melting is accelerating.

If all the ice in Greenland melted, it would raise global sea levels by 7m he said.

“Antarctica is 20,000 times the size of Singapore, two to three kilometres thick, and has enough water to raise sea levels by 65m,” Prof Horton added. “That is more than a third of the height of the Singapore Flyer and seven times the height of the Merlion statue. If a few per cent of the Antarctic ice sheet were to melt, it would cause devastating impacts.”

As for rainfall, the IPCC said that in general, bouts of rain could become more intense and frequent with each additional degree of warming.

South-east Asia would also likely experience this, resulting in flash floods if ground is covered with concrete and if drainage systems are overwhelmed, but more research has to be done to see if Singapore will experience this.

This is because rainfall is highly variable. If Singapore were a bathtub and rain falling over it came from taps feeding into it, climate change would just be one spigot.

Rainfall is also influenced by other factors, including vegetation and the topography of the surrounding areas, since terrain and coastlines influence how winds transport moisture.

“The science around climate change attribution is still evolving, and MSS will continue to study this, along with the impact of climate change on Singapore’s weather,” said its spokesman.

The latest report, of more than 1,000 pages, produced by the IPCC’s Working Group 1, examines the physical basis of climate change. It is the first of three reports that will make up the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report to be published next year.

The Centre for Climate Research Singapore said it is studying the IPCC’s latest report, and working to contextualise the findings for the Republic.

Singapore’s third national climate change study is expected to be completed by the end of next year, said the MSS spokesman in a statement.

“The findings will guide the ongoing planning and implementation of adaptation measures to safeguard Singapore against the impact of climate change. These measures will be continually reviewed and adjusted, as new knowledge and information on the effects of climate change become available,” she added.

Published : August 10, 2021

By : Audrey Tan/The Straits Times/ANN

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Alibaba suspends staff, launches probe into sexual assault charges

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said it was working with police on an investigation following allegations by a female employee that she was sexually assaulted by her boss and a client.

The company has suspended several staff.

The woman’s harrowing account published in an 11-page PDF was widely circulated online, triggering a social media clamour on China’s Twitter-like website Weibo. Reponses to her account figured among the top-trending list on Weibo as of Sunday morning.

Police in the city of Jinan said on Sunday morning said that they were investigating the incident.

The victim alleged that the incident took place during a trip to the city of Jinan in Shandong province where they were, according to her account, on business.

The woman alleged that her boss forced her to go on the particular trip with him to meet one of her team’s clients in the city of Jinan.

On the evening of 27 July, she wrote that the client kissed her and after consuming alcohol she woke up in a hotel room the following day stripped and unable to recall the what transpired the evening before.

CCTV footages, she had obtained, of the hotel shows that her boss entered her room four times during the course of the evening, she said.

Upon returning to Hangzhou, she said she had reported the incident to the human resources and higher authorities urging that her boss be sacked and for time-off. HR initially agreed, ultimately they didn’t follow through, she said.

Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang on the company’s internal message board wrote “everyone at Alibaba must empathise, reflect and take action”, according to a person who saw the post.

Published : August 09, 2021

By : The Statesman/ANN

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[Vietnam] Tax collection reaches record high but slows down as virus takes a toll

HÀ NỘI — Tax collection in the first seven months of this year set a record high, driven by robust banking, property, securities and automobile production sectors, but was slowing down as the virus took a toll, according to the General Department of Taxation.

Statistics showed that tax collection was estimated to total VNĐ763.8 trillion from January to July, equivalent to 68.4 per cent of expectations for the full year and increasing by 13.1 per cent against the same period last year, setting a record high in terms of collection value.

The General Department of Taxation said that tax collection in the period was good mainly thanks to the recovery of the economy in the final months of 2020 and the increases in tax collection from robust sectors, including banking, real estate, securities and automobile production.

Tax collection from the banking sector increased by 72.9 per cent, the equivalent to VNĐ6 trillion on good credit growth, increases in banking services fees and a reduction in operating costs which helped increase banks’ profits.

The real estate market also recovered in late 2020 and early 2021 with a number of projects transferred which pushed tax collection up by 61.7 per cent to VNĐ25 trillion. The increase in merger and acquisition deals in the early months of 2021 also pushed up corporate income tax collection by 2.6 times to VNĐ5.7 trillion.

The tax collection from the securities sector rose by 2.47 times to more than VĐ5 trillion in January – July.

Policies to promote the consumption of domestically produced and assembled cars also helped increase tax collection by 47.1 per cent, the equivalent to VNĐ35 trillion.

However, the General Department of Taxation said that tax collection was on a decreasing trend month over month with higher decreases since the fourth outbreak of the virus in late April.

Statistics showed that domestic tax collection increased by 15.9 per cent in April but slowed down to 5.6 per cent in June and even dropped by 10.4 per cent in July.

Tax debts also increased by 23 per cent against the end of 2020 to more than VNĐ116.8 trillion, reflecting that production and business were struggling in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tax watchdog said that while the economy was still facing challenges as the pandemic remained complicated in a number of provinces and cities, including HCM City, Đồng Nai, Bình Dương, Long An and Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu, focus would be placed on removing barriers and making it easier for enterprises to maintain their production and business and attract investment, which would help increase tax revenue in the long term.

The tax watchdog is also focused on implementing tax and fee exemptions, reductions and extensions for enterprises and citizens following the Government’s directives to promote production and business and well as economic growth.

Special attention would be attached to enhancing tax management of e-commerce and businesses on digital platforms such as Facebook, Google, Youtube and Netflix.

More support

At the meeting on Thursday, the Government basically agreed with the Ministry of Finance’s proposal about a tax and fee reduction and exemption package to support citizens and enterprises affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The package included a 30 per cent reduction in corporate income tax for those with revenue of less than VNĐ200 billion per year, a 50 per cent reduction in the third and fourth quarters of all household and individual businesses, together with a 30 per cent reduction in value-added tax for some sectors.

The ministry also proposed exemption of the fee for late payments arising in 2020 and 2021 for enterprises and organisations which incurred losses for the three consecutive years of 2018, 2019 and 2020.— VNS

Published : August 09, 2021

By : Viet Nam News/ANN

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Plastics pile up amid food delivery boom

Food delivery app operators urged to take action to reduce plastic waste.

Food delivery apps such as Baemin and Coupang Eats have brought us great comfort in this pandemic, as months of social distancing and restrictions on business hours left us with little choice.

But as the market nearly doubled to 17.38 trillion won ($15.22 million) in South Korea last year, with 27 million monthly users and 120,000 riders according to Statistics Korea and the Fair Trade Commission, plastic waste has also increased considerably.

In one Facebook group for people trying to avoid using plastic containers, one user shared her experience of carrying her own containers to a Mexican restaurant in her neighborhood so she could bring the food home.

“It is uncomfortable to see all the plastic waste when I order food. I might do this from time to time,” the post read.

Lee Min-hee, the Seoul-based woman behind the online post, who wished to use a pseudonym, is among many who feel divided between the convenience of food delivery services and the growing amount of plastic waste they generate.

“Since the pandemic, I have been ordering food very often. Now I find myself throwing out recyclables more frequently than before.”

As the volume of food delivery orders was up 78 percent in 2020 compared with the previous year, the amount of plastic waste rose 19 percent, according to data from the Ministry of Environment.

Waste from packaging materials that included Styrofoam or other plastic foam products saw a 14 percent year-on-year increase.

Environmental group Green Korea estimates that some 2.7 million orders are made on food delivery apps every day, which translates to at least 8.3 million plastic containers, many of which the group says are not recyclable in practice.

In April, the group staged a protest outside the headquarters of Woowa Brothers, operator of the country’s top food delivery app, Baemin, as it urged the platform to take action against the growing amount of plastic waste.

Their calls did not fall on deaf ears as Korea’s major delivery app operators, Baemin, Yogiyo and Coupang Eats, made a joint decision not to send out disposable utensils starting in June unless customers ask for them.

Baemin also sells eco-friendly containers to restaurant owners on its maintenance, repair and operations platform, according to the company.

“We jointly developed a container with a South Korean startup which is designed to use up to 50 percent less plastic by using eco-friendly materials,” one Baemin representative said.

“Green classes” are also being held to raise environmental awareness among restaurant owners.

As climate change awareness grows, companies have many reasons to be more environmental-friendly.

Three in 4 people said they felt “guilty” or “uncomfortable” throwing away waste from delivery food, according to a survey carried out by Green Korea. Recent boycotts, including one against Coupang over the working conditions of its staff, show that consumer activism is alive and well in this country.

Environmental, social and governance efforts have also become synonymous with sustainability as investors seek to incentivize socially responsible practices.

Presidential hopeful Lee Nak-yeon said last week that the next president post-COVID must be an “ESG president” as he proposed plans to force the National Pension Service to consider ESG investment.

Retail giant Shinsegae announced plans on Sunday to adopt eco-friendly bagasse pulp containers, made from sugarcane waste, for select fresh food products sold at E-mart stores as part of its ESG efforts.

But Green Korea activist Heo Seung-eun said delivery app operators have a long way to go in reducing plastic use.

“How much impact do you think those actions have had on reducing plastic waste? One fewer spoon does not mean much when there are almost 10 containers (each order),” the activist said.

Against this backdrop, Gyeonggi Province is pushing for reusable containers to be used for delivery services.

As recyclable plastic waste rose by 22. 7 percent between 2019 and 2020 in the region, the initiative to collect containers and wash them before reusing them has made headlines.

With some 140 restaurants currently taking part in the trial, the provincial government will provide container collection and washing services to encourage the use of reusable containers.

Food delivery services have yet to follow suit, citing pandemic woes and additional costs as delivery riders would have to make an extra trip.

Other alternatives exist such as paper food containers made by Good Pulp, a pulp container company founded last year.

“The reaction has been positive. Most of our customers are environmentally conscious people who are happy to replace plastic lids and PET cups with paper alternatives,” said CEO Oh Ju-won.

“Apart from soups, they are compatible with any dishes that can be delivered in plastic containers such as tonkatsu or bulgogi,” he said.

Published : August 09, 2021

By : Yim Hyun-su/The Korea Herald/ANN

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Successful Tokyo Games gives precious gift of hope

Held under the specter of a pandemic and threats of cancellation, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games wound up on Sunday－a success story that brought hope to the world.

International Olympic Chief Thomas Bach declared the Tokyo Games “unprecedented” and the “most challenging Olympic journey” as he addressed the near-empty 68,000-seat Olympic Stadium at the closing ceremony.

“In these difficult times we are all living through, you give the world the most precious of gifts: hope,” Bach told athletes attending the ceremony.

The next Summer Olympics is scheduled for Paris in 2024, but the Olympic flame will burn again in six months when Beijing hosts the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Over the 16-day sports extravaganza in Tokyo, a total of 339 medal events were held across 33 sports with skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing and karate making their debuts. A total of 94 different countries and regions claimed a medal at Tokyo, more than at any other Games.

After a late flourish, the United States topped the medal table just ahead of China, followed by Japan.

The Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council extended their congratulations and sincere greetings to the Chinese delegation on Sunday, wishing them a safe return on behalf of the country and the Chinese people.

Both hailed the excellent achievements of the delegation during the course of the Olympic Games, despite challenges and difficulties faced amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chinese delegation was urged to continue carrying forward their good tradition to further improve China’s comprehensive strength in competitive sports and to arouse the enthusiasm of Chinese people, especially teenagers, for physical exercise.

The US topped the medal table with 39 golds, 41 silvers and 33 bronzes. Team China was in second with 38 gold, 32 silver and 18 bronze medals, followed by Japan with 27 gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze medals.

Team Chinese Taipei earned two golds, four silvers and six bronzes and Team Hong Kong claimed one gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

Sprinter Su Bingtian was chosen as Team China’s flag-bearer at the closing ceremony. He was honored as the first Chinese to qualify for an Olympic men’s 100-meter final as well as setting a new Asian record of 9.83 seconds in the semifinals.

“It’s an honor like no other. To be an athlete, to represent China in this closing ceremony is a huge privilege,” Su said.

“In Tokyo, I can see that we have made a huge improvement in athletics. For China to hit 9.83 seconds is something we’ve never been able to do before. This means that China has changed from a country that watches, to a country that stands shoulder to shoulder with the big guys.”

Published : August 09, 2021

By : WANG XU and MO JINGXI/China Daily/ANN

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Curtain comes down on Tokyo Olympics

The Tokyo Olympics came to an end on Sunday with no end in sight for the coronavirus that continues to spread across the nation.

The Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed for a year due to the spread of the coronavirus, attracted about 11,000 athletes from 205 countries and regions, plus a team of refugees, in a record 339 events across 33 sports. Russian athletes that were cleared to compete made up the Russian Olympic Committee.

Japan won a national record of 27 golds and an overall total of 58 medals in the first Summer Olympics held in Tokyo since 1964. By gold medals, Japan placed third, behind the United States with 39 and China with 38. The United States also led the overall medal count with 113, followed by China with 88 and the Russian Olympic Committee with 71.

The Olympics began amid a state of emergency declared for Tokyo and Okinawa Prefecture. The competitions took place mostly as planned, with no spectators at most of the venues and with other measures taken to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

However, infections surged in the host nation during the Olympics. On Thursday, the number of newly infected people in a single day in Tokyo surpassed 5,000 for the first time.

The Japanese government expanded the areas subject to a state of emergency to four more prefectures on Aug. 2, and the area subject to pre-emergency priority measures was also expanded to 13 prefectures on Sunday, the final day of the Tokyo Olympics.

The Tokyo Paralympics are scheduled to begin on Aug. 24 and run for 13 days through Sept. 5.

The 2024 Summer Olympics will be hosted by Paris.

Published : August 09, 2021

By : The Japan News/ANN