How to climb your “Carbon Everest”: Break it down into small actionable steps.
LEE Cheh Hsien, Divisional Director, Planning, Sentosa Development Corporation, is all about breaking down the big topic of sustainability so that island destinations like Sentosa and businesses on the island can play their part to contribute towards a greater, collective goal.
And it doesn’t have to stop at the business level – given the 20 million guests who visited Sentosa (pre-Covid), it can play a big role in not only raising consumer awareness but also empowering individual action.
What it comes down to is data and measurability, taking small steps, implementing micro-solutions, getting small wins along the way so that you are encouraged to take the next step. Think of it as climbing your own “Carbon Everest”, you can’t just pack up and go, you have to plan, train and keep your eye on the destination.
Here are the key takeaways:
Why Singapore and Sentosa need to be actively involved:
While “being very small contributors in terms of absolute emissions”, “we are more than proportionately affected by the effects of climate change being island destinations”. A 0.5-degree change in global temperature will actually severely impact coral habitats in our tropical climate, he shared.
Sentosa’s lighthouse effect – it has set a carbon neutral goal by 2030
“As a leading leisure destination with close to 20 million visitors to the island pre-Covid, we have a part to create more awareness around sustainability issues” and make it practical for consumers to be able to understand how they can change their consumption behaviours.
“As a business ecosystem, we can also demonstrate what it means for collective solutioning towards common goals such as carbon neutralisation. And finally, as custodians of the island, we think we can also safeguard Sentosa for future generations by developing the Sentosa-Brani Master Plan with sustainability in mind.”
Set your own “Carbon Everest”
“In order to tackle a complex problem … it needs to be broken down in a way that is less daunting. On Sentosa, we like to think about our carbon neutrality goal as a “Carbon Everest”, and you don’t climb Everest, just by packing your bags and telling your mom, I’m going to climb Everest next week.
“You really have to start with long term planning, you have to decide where is your base camp, what’s stage one, what’s stage two, and then the summit climb. We also want to bring that approach to our small businesses.”
The approach is from three starting points – what is their challenge, what are their options, what are the quick wins?
Breaking down individual businesses’ carbon footprint to enable collective action
Measuring your carbon footprint can be done by breaking “it down to a level where it’s relevant for businesses, no matter how big how small it is, that’s relevant to your scope of activities … that is a critical first step”.
“… we took the first step of actually developing a consistent methodology that’s applicable for businesses, by industries. So, whether it’s F&B, hotels, attractions, and then scoping it such that we demystify the numbers behind what it takes to just understand, what is your footprint?”
Having done that, “we can start the conversation around collective action, such as demand aggregation, combined sourcing …”
Innovation at both functional and experiential level
“In the functional aspect, we are thinking about deployment of technology to support decarbonisation, such as renewable energy, solarisation, or even the use of tidal energy. We talk about implementing car-light policy so that we reduce the carbon footprint from transportation.
“On the other spectrum, we also talk about experiential offerings … we have seen a huge interest since Covid in the more natural parts of Sentosa with a big demand for our intertidal walks at Tanjong Rimau, and the historical sites at Fort Siloso. Now, we want to enhance some of these experiences so that they understand the sustainability story behind it.”
Plus, tidal turbines, how coal “saved” the whale, how to balance the two opposing ideas of travel and sustainability, plus, at the end, an idea to measure your personal carbon footprint.