Climate Conversations

Singapore's carbon tax will go up from S$5 now to potentially S$80 by 2030. How significant is the sharp calibration upwards in terms of climate ambition? What will it mean for businesses and consumers as it trickles down? And how will revenues be used to help industries pivot and customers cope? Jaime Ho speaks to Vinod Thomas, Visiting Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School Of Public Policy and fo...

Following the landmark Paris Agreement of 2015, President of COP26 Alok Sharma speaks to Jaime Ho about getting the Glasgow Climate Pact past the finishing line, and why so much work remains to be done on the road to COP27 in Egypt.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nuclear energy is already part of the equation in the world's energy mix. With climate change an existential crisis, is there a way to produce this "clean" energy safely? What is the economics of it and how far can technological advancements go towards greater adoption? Jaime Ho speaks to Philip Andrews-Speed, Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute.  See omnystudio.c...

Decades of relentless carbon emissions have affected one region more severely than any other – the Arctic. As ice melts at an unprecedented rate, humans and wildlife have already been affected. What needs to be done there, and are there also opportunities? Jaime Ho speaks to Arctic researcher Hema Nadarajah. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hydrogen, a simple and abundant element, has vast potential to become an alternative energy source. But extracting it is not always green nor affordable, not to mention the challenges of storage and transportation. Jaime Ho speaks to Frederic Carron, Vice President, Middle East & Asia, Energy Business, Wartsila on what it all means, and what’s in store for the potential of green hydrogen...

Green and sustainable buildings have become an urgent corporate priority. What materials to use, how to get a net zero building off the ground and whether it'll be resilient to the worsening impacts of climate change are questions being asked in the real estate sector. Khoo Teng Chye, former URA chief planner and current Asia Pacific chair of the Urban Land Institute tells Jaime Ho that despite th...

At least 50 people died and thousands more saw their homes washed away in recent floods that hit Peninsula Malaysia. Could more have been done on flood management? How can politics, finance, data and technology come together to deal with more frequent, intense and potentially unpredictable storms? Jaime Ho speaks to Renard Siew, Climate Change Adviser to the Centre for Governance and Political Stu...

Forests worldwide are crucial to our fight against climate change but researchers have found that 10 UNESCO World Heritage forests are now emitting more carbon than they absorb. How did the world’s most protected forests get to this stage? Can the damage be reversed to restore them as carbon sinks? What is the impact of national efforts and international commitments like those made at COP26?...

Palm oil is so versatile, it's found in half of packaged foods. It's also been identified as a driver for deforestation, when swaths of forests are cleared to make way for lucrative plantations. How has the industry tackled growing pressures to become more sustainable? How are smallholder farmers who earn a living from palm oil supported? And does sustainable palm oil mean higher prices for consum...

From streaming a movie on Netflix, to e-commerce and e-banking, we rely on data centres to process and communicate information at lightning speeds. Yet they are energy and water guzzlers. How are governments balancing the lucrative opportunity of building more data centres but also managing their large electricity footprint? And what does an eco-friendly data center look like? Jaime Ho speaks to D...

Just what did the most important climate conference since Paris in 2015 achieve? What did nearly 200 countries commit to and where did they fall below expectations? Have a few cans been kicked down the road to Egypt next year even if countries cannot afford a minute to waste? Jaime Ho gets Melissa Low, Research Fellow at the NUS Energy Studies Institute to give us her take. See omnystudio.com/list...

In a special edition, CNA's climate correspondent Jack Board reports on COP26 from Glasgow. While world leaders and corporate executives huddle in halls and on stages to decide the future of the Earth, he speaks to people who are clamouring for change but have been shut out from having a seat at the table: An indigenous group mother-and-daughter duo from the Philippines, a young man who gave up be...

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the country's goal of reaching net zero as early as 2050. Plans include ending new coal-fired power plants, increasing renewable energy capacity and adopting carbon tax. What are the challenges with implementation? What does it mean for Malaysia’s economy, and role of sectors such as fossil fuels and palm oil? Jaime Ho speaks to Hezri Adnan, Execu...

From this week, negotiators and leaders will gather in Glasgow to negotiate outcomes that will set in place promises made in the landmark Paris Agreement of 2015. On the back of the latest IPCC report which delivered a “code red for humanity”, what can and must we expect at COP26? Jaime Ho speaks to Isabelle de Lovinfosse who works for the British Government as the Head of Southeast As...

Advances in deep learning and computational power have made artificial intelligence (AI) less science fiction and more of a reality as a powerful tool in fighting climate change. But exactly what can it do to help us reduce emissions and mitigate impacts? What are the downsides of using AI to deal with a problem as complex as climate change? Jaime Ho speaks to Markus Kraft, Professor of Chemical E...

With rising electricity prices and growing demand, how do electricity companies balance cost with carbon emissions reductions commitments? Why are alternative energy sources still not a big part of the mix and how can customers help in this green journey? Jaime Ho speaks to Lim Han Kwang, CEO of Geneco and Group Head (Retail, Regulation and Renewables) of YTL PowerSeraya to find out how they...

The global shipping trade is a vast network of unimaginable scale: 90 per cent of the world's trade is done by sea. But where does global shipping stand within the world’s emissions reductions commitments? And why is it so hard for this industry to decarbonise? Can the industry lower its emissions or is that a bar too high? Jaime Ho talks to Sanjay Kuttan, Chief Technology Officer of the Global Ce...

In 2019, passionate young people organised the SG Climate Rally. But with COVID-19, activism has leaned even further towards social media. But how far can it really go in driving climate action? Jaime Ho speaks to Woo Qiyun who runs the Instagram page The Weird and Wild for her take on how her brand of activism works, and on the challenges and opportunities behind this new virtual activism. See om...

We live in a world where the boom in e-commerce allows us to buy anything we want and have it delivered within the day. Yet we have also awoken to the impact of climate change, and the need to reduce waste and embrace sustainability. So how do we square this circle? Is there a gap between purpose and action? Is it about buying “greener” or just buying less? Jaime Ho speaks to Sharon Ng, Professor...

The home of the future is going to be a sustainable and a smart one so everyone can help reduce carbon emissions. Solar panels on the roof, appliances that conserve energy when not in use and a smart system that tells you how much you've consumed. How soon can these become a reality, how much would they cost and what about the challenge of retrofitting old buildings? Jaime Ho speaks to Manish Pant...

The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment has plans to create 55,000 new and upgraded jobs over the next 10 years. These plans need people but what are the skills and knowledge needed? Will passion and pay finally meet for future roles in sustainability? Jaime Ho speaks to two young guests who have already dipped their toes into this green future - Benedict Tan who majored in Environmenta...

The 6th Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that things are bleak and the time to fix it is fast running out. Jaime Ho speaks to Winston Chow, Associate Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Singapore Management University and a contributor to the report, on what more governments, businesses and people can do to avoid the worst that will inev...

The young will inherit a planet very different from their parents. How aware are our students about climate change? What does going green and environmental education in schools look like and how much can they influence others around them with what they learn in class? Jaime Ho speaks to Tampines secondary school students Alexander Chua and Pratibha Naidu, and their teacher, Preeti Sheri. See omnys...

Ride-hailing companies like Grab and Gojek have announced a flurry of climate commitments in the form of electric vehicles or carbon offsets, including plans for fleets to run on clean energy by 2030. What sort of dent will they make in cutting emissions? What will a switch to electric vehicles mean for private hire drivers and consumers? And how does ride-hailing fit into Singapore’s car-li...

No natural eco-system captures carbon quite as well as the humble mangrove. What are the hidden opportunities and realities of what mangroves can do in mitigating climate change? And what role do such nature-based solutions play amid other strategies countries have to make in reducing emissions? Associate Professor Dan Friess from the National University of Singapore who has studied mangroves for...