C-Change (Climate or Covid)

As we all already know, Covid-19 is a global health pandemic that has had an adverse effect on the world population. Despite the early recognition and adaptation of preventive measures, this pandemic is bound to have both short and long term effects. Apart from the C-19, another one of the global concerns plaguing the citizen’s minds is climate change. Drastic changes in the ecosystem are resulting in ever-increasing droughts, floods, and catastrophic storms that require constant vigilance and extensive planning.

While Covid -19 is not known to have a direct impact on climate change, it is one of the factors which has been influencing our relationship with other species on this planet. The discussion below explores the relationship between Climate Change and Covid-19, aka C-Change.

1. Improvements in air quality :

Air pollution is a critical health risk that causes life-threatening diseases like lung cancer, stroke, and heart diseases. Singapore contributes to 0.1% of the world’s air pollution. The industry sector, the main contributor, is responsible for 50% of the emissions in the city and Singapore Sustainability plans to improve its energy efficiency by 1-2% per year between 2020 to 2030. In June 2020, Singapore went into a lockdown to stop the spreading of Covid-19, which was known as a "circuit-breaker". Travel restrictions were placed and only essential employees were allowed to physically report to work. Economic activity and public transportation frequency declined dramatically which led to a record-breaking 7% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in 2020.

Covid 19, while harmful to the life of the inhabitants, proved to be useful to the planet. However, life is almost back to normal and the cycle of development has started rolling again. Unless action is taken to combat climate change, life on planet Earth will be forced to undergo some serious consequences.

2. Accessibility to water :

An estimated amount of 80% of the world’s total population is already facing a certain level of water scarcity. In daunting times like these, the demand for water is immense but the availability is limited. Being a low-lying island, Singapore is known to be the fifth most likely country in the world to face high water stress by 2040 and has insufficient land to collect and store rainwater. Singapore's long-term future faced a grave threat from rising sea levels shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Government of Singapore announced a S$5 billion Coastal and Flood Protection Fund in Budget 2020 to safeguard Singapore. The Fund is part of Singapore's overall efforts to develop innovative coastal protection measures, a move that will help not just fight sea-level rise, but improve the quality of coastal life. Despite the rising sea levels, the availability of clean water continues to be scarce. To counter this problem, Singapore has come up with creative ideas over the years and therefore, is developing methods to secure a sustainable supply of water.

3. Decarbonisation:

Due to the increase in stakeholder awareness, shareholders are now more aware of the financial risks associated with climate change and are reactivating their commitment to develop new strategies to cut carbon emissions. Assessing the impact of climate risk on existing business models to identify appropriate actions is vital. Despite the three components of business resilience demonstrated in this pandemic: thoughtful reflection, discipline, and preparation, there is still a need for both businesses and governments to assess how effectively resilient they are and will be in the future. The world is not ready to face another unexpected disruption due to climate change.

As can be seen, the link between Covid-19 and Climate change is blurred but prominent. Hopefully, climate change will soon become a matter of greater urgency on the global stage and governments across the world will undertake the best courses of action to spread awareness among the youth. Regulations to reduce pollution in industries, provision of cleaner public transport, supporting small agricultural producers, and promoting green energies are some of the ways governments can take action against climate change. The youth today is more aware of the need of the hour than ever before and can help bring about a change by simple actions like limiting the use of plastic, biking instead of using vehicles and joining environmental groups to help spread awareness.

It is said that today’s youth is tomorrow’s ruler. We believe in the power of youth. Do you?