SPEECH BY MR TEO SER LUCK, MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY, AT THE SINGAPORE SUSTAINABILITY AWARDS 2011, MONDAY, 11 JULY 2011, 7.30 PM AT GRAND HYATT SINGAPORE

Mr Tony Chew, Chairman, Singapore Business Federation,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Introduction

I am delighted to join all of you at this evening’s event to honour the winners of the Singapore Sustainability Awards 2011. The Awards serve to promote excellence in sustainability and the sharing of best practices in the public and private sectors in Singapore.

I wish to congratulate the Singapore Business Federation for achieving a milestone in attracting a critical mass of Singapore companies to participate in the awards. This year’s entry of 68 companies represents almost double the level of participation from 2010, the first year. It is heartening that our companies are actively participating in this note-worthy initiative. Their interest indicates a keen understanding of the need to balance the triple demands of achieving business growth, environmental sustainability and corporate social responsibility at the same time.

Growth opportunities in Cleantech

Over the last decade, sustainability has emerged as one of the megatrends of global importance. Environmental issues, globalised workforces and supply chains, the rise of new world order and the intense competition for natural resources, as well as escalating public and governmental concern about climate change, industrial pollution, food safety, and natural resource depletion, have made sustainability a global imperative.

Fuelling this megatrend is the increasing number of private and public sector organisations who are devoting increasing attention and investment on innovation in energy efficiency, renewable power, resource productivity, and pollution control. What this all adds up to for businesses is that CEOs can no longer afford to ignore sustainability as a central factor in their companies’ long-term competitiveness.

For Singapore, this growing focus on sustainability translates into significant growth opportunities in the Clean Technology (Cleantech) industry, as well as a heightened awareness on the primacy of sustainability reporting by businesses.

Singapore aims to develop a globally competitive Cleantech Industry and serve as the gateway to Asia for international companies.In the water sector, over 70 global water companies have made Singapore their base for research, innovation and headquarters activities.One of the world’s leading integrated solar manufacturers, Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) from Norway, has completed the first phase of its manufacturing investments and is ramping up its operations.Singapore-based solar system integrators are also building up capability through various solar test-bed projects locally and are poised to expand into the region.

Singapore’s national solar research institute, the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), opened in November 2009 and has started collaborations with leading industry players such as REC. VDE and the Fraunhofer Institute of Solar Energy Systems from Germany have set up a solar testing and certification lab in Singapore, the first in Southeast Asia to offer internationally recognised solar testing and certification services. To complement SERIS, the Energy Research Institute at the Nanyang Technological University (ERI@N) was officially opened in June 2010.ERI@N will focus on industry-oriented research in wind and marine renewables, green buildings, energy storage, and fuel cells.

Singapore has developed and implemented innovative urban solutions that have made our city state highly livable.Singapore will continue to develop Living Laboratories for industry players to co-create test-bed and commercialise innovative, future-oriented solutions to achieve sustainable development. The CleanTech Park, the first eco-business park in the region, is one such large scale project that will provide opportunities for new clean and green solutions to be developed and tested.

Singapore Sustainability Alliance

Separately, I would like to commend the Singapore Business Federation for inaugurating the Singapore Sustainability Alliance formed under the auspices of SBF to address the wide-ranging topics on the sustainability agenda. The Alliance is in response to the rising need and expectation for a broad-based platform that converges business, government and academic interests to address these issues holistically.

Hosted by the Sustainable Development Business Group (SDBG) of the Singapore Business Federation as the secretariat and with EDB, IE Singapore, SPRING Singapore, Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS), Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore (WMRAS) and Singapore Water Association (SWA) as the founding members, the Alliance comprises a broad network of government agencies; industry verticals, business chamber and NGO partners; Singapore-based companies as well as academic institutions and research centres based on a triple-helix and public-private partnership model.

The members are represented across different sustainability clusters such as clean energy and energy efficiency, environmental management, green IT, green building, sustainable manufacturing, sustainable supply chain & logistics, sustainable water solutions, waste management & recycling, sustainable business practices, amongst others.

The Singapore Sustainability Alliance, through SBF’s representation, is now also plugged into the International Cleantech Network (ICN), a network founded by Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster linking the world’s leading cleantech clusters across Europe, North America and Asia. Plugging into the ICN, enables the Allianceto facilitate the efforts of Singapore’s cleantech and sustainability community to tap business expertise,partnerships, investments, as well as technologies and R&D collaboration, and other opportunities across the international cleantech and sustainability clusters.Singapore companies will be able to tap on various key ICN initiatives to develop new knowledge and capabilities.

At the ICN meeting in Bilbao last month, Singapore was conferred the honour to host the inaugural ICN Conference and Expo here in October next year.To be held in conjunction with the Asia Pacific Sustainability Leadership Conference within the Global Entrepolis@Singapore Summit 2012, the ICN Conference will allow respective cleantech clusters to showcase the latest innovations, technologies and developments from around the world.

Conclusion

Sustainability, together with other megatrends such as demographic change, urbanisation and globalisation, are not only influencing the way we live today, but their impact will increase substantially in the decades ahead.

I encourage the Singapore sustainability community to fully leverage on the platform provided by the Singapore Sustainability Alliance and the International Cleantech Network to take advantage of green growth opportunities.

In this regard, I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the Singapore Business Federation and various industry partners to promote the understanding and practice of sustainable development among the business community. The Singapore Sustainability Awards being presented tonight are an important step in the right direction which will also provide recognition for companies to internationalise and capture regional and global projects.

Through the concerted efforts of our sustainability community, there is much potential for Singapore to become a leading hub for sustainable development practices and innovative green business solutions.

To the winners of tonight’s awards, my heartiest congratulations. I hope that many more organisations will follow your lead in implementing best practices in sustainable development.Thank you and have an enjoyable evening.