TOKYO -- Resource-poor Singapore has turned adversity into economic success, thriving as the region's trade and finance hub. Now, with a compound need to achieve carbon neutrality and energy security, the city-state appears to be set on becoming Asia's renewable energy hub as well. If successful, the country could serve as a beacon for other ASEAN members to follow in dealing with difficult carbon reduction goals.
Lawrence Wong, the deputy prime minister and finance minister who has been tapped as Singapore's likely next leader, announced last October that the city-state aims to cut its carbon dioxide emissions to "net zero by 2050." Electricity generation now accounts for 40% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions, with the majority generated from natural gas. If the country wants to become carbon neutral in the same time frame as the U.S. and Europe, decarbonizing the power sector holds the key.
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