Change is Not a Choice

[Music]

a few weeks ago

and on the night before my daughter’s

wedding

mother and daughters cried our eyes out

why change can be daunting

and the anxiety that comes with change

can be distressing

and humans are therefore quite resistant

and you know

about change because you know breaking

away from norms

or breaking away from habits can be

distressing

and change unfortunately is a fact of

life

and you can embrace it and it is not

really a choice

some change can happen overnight some

can evolve over time

sustainability exactly happens over the

last two decades

it has evolved from a good to have to

today

become a global mainstream agenda

on both political and business arena

in 2014 when i you know share my card

as like carrying the title of chief

sustainability officer

at that time people’s reaction was like

oh interesting what is this title you

know

what what what do you really do but

today

the reactions are quite different some

ask me is like

oh my son actually you know is studying

environmental management and he wants to

be part of the climate action

to save the world and this is really a

very welcome change

because our world is not sustainable

and the temperature is rising too fast

and too much and

if you remember that the hottest five

years

all occurred over the last seven years

and indeed we need sustainability

you know professional skilled and

passionate

people to come to join this profession

i’m really glad that i started my

journey early in 1995

and at that time why i joined

the profession was actually the turning

point was because

i became a mother of two in mid 90s

and at that time sustainability was not

quite the agenda

and being a mother of course i naturally

become more

concerned about the net you know the

climate change

the impact food security any things that

impact the future of my children or my

grandchildren

definitely that was really the key

drivers for me to change

and the guilt and also eco-consciousness

and the care

and the concern about the future so

today the world is in a climate

emergency

and as you know that cities account for

only two percent

of the landmarks on earth but is

responsible for

two-thirds of energy consumption and 70

of greenhouse gas emission cities and

buildings

are responsible for 36 percent of energy

consumption and 40 percent

of greenhouse gas emission and sadly

after

paris agreement we haven’t seen you know

the drop of global carbon emissions

over these past five six years so

what should we do climate threats are

really affecting everyone

and everywhere and this was taken

in 2015 in singapore

singapore being a garden city blessed

with

you know clean and green environment and

high green coverage

always enjoy you know clean air and all

that but

every year we are subject to the

influence the

impact of haze due to the you know bush

fire in the region

and 2013 and 2015 it was the worst case

on record

and i still remember that i was driving

home and

when after work and the visibility

became so bad that i could hardly

drive you know more than 20 kilometer

because i couldn’t see the cars in front

it was really very frightening and

breathing was

so suffocating because i feel like i was

smoking rather than breathing

so the question is do we have solutions

and what does smart city means you know

and

definitely the answer is yes there are

smart and sustainable

and green building solutions and

technology that can help us to

reduce carbon footprint and even right

from the beginning we can

tap you know on technologies and ai

to simulate you know the projects and

how do we orientate it how do we

maximize

natural ventilation and how do we reduce

heat gain

we can do it there are solutions and

even through

greening you know this is actually you

know our pride and joy one of the

largest vertical

garden in the world that made it to the

guinness record

and now based on a study over one year

this green wall helped to bring down

temperature

cool the internal space by up to three

degrees celsius

and that means it will reduce the use of

air conditioning and we can also weave

in technology

and solutions into architecture and this

wavy canopy has a lot of wonders behind

it

it actually maximized the airflow and

natural resources and breeze

under it without using air conditioning

and it also embraced a very extensive

installation of solar energy and solar

panel

and plus and ring water harvesting

system

and these two are actually a net zero

building

and what we feel is we need to educate

the public what exactly

is net zero building and it actually

both of them are like green gallery at

the both

singapore botanic gardens the other one

is a sustainability academy

both have high usage of sustainable

building materials

and both actually covered with solar

panels on the rooftop

and since they’re opening we only power

the operations using solar energy

then the third enablers is actually

about people

do you know that actually people spend

about 90 percent

indoor whether at home you know at work

or you know in fmb hours or you know

anywhere entertainment theater and all

that so what we feel is

people at most most important in driving

change because how you use the spaces

have an impact on the overall building

performance and carbon footprint of our

building in our cities

and what we feel is like we need to

engage

a lot more ambassadors not just

sustainability professionals not just

the environmentalists or the scientists

people can drive change on the ground

and people can really make a difference

over the last few years i have really

embraced a lot of

you know ground movement and established

a women for green network

and also the youth for climate network

because what we feel

is women and children and youth are

really

very effective ambassadors can drive

change

and this little boy is a three and a

half years old nathaniel ing

he was actually our youngest winner from

our storytelling competition last year

when we were doing the lockdown the kids

are all not going to school so we

actually

uh launched this storytelling and she he

is so compelling

in his storytelling and his last line i

can remember

you know fondly that he say i’m small

but i can make the difference

with that energy and conviction and as a

doubt

we can all make a difference too we all

know that we shouldn’t be using too much

air conditioning

we know that we shouldn’t be shopping

too much or throwing away

too much garbage but knowing is one

thing

acting is another for businesses

we are under a lot of scrutiny now

actually from the beginning of

millennium

we already seen a lot of new benchmark

esg sustainability

standards and frameworks coming our way

and whether you like it or not

businesses

performance in esg environment social

and governance

are being tracked because we are

operating in a very transparent world

you like it or not to contract you

whether it’s regulator investors and

consumers

so the best way to do it there is a

choice

change or be changed investors can drop

your

you know from their investment and

consumers can choose not to buy your

product so

change is really not a choice but

you know an imperative to survive

so what do we do next

we were very very uh you know gear up

for paris agreement during

2014 we actually restructure our

organization

putting a lot of emphasis to

sustainability embrace it into the

businesses

and into our business operations and

strategy

and i was very fortunate to have like a

very good support

from you know my boss uh the lead

managing director of cdl

and he has been my really the strongest

supporter

from the beginning when i joined the

industry with very little experience in

about

the industry and he believed and shared

the same commitment

and together we actually started a 20

years journey for

our company and adopting the ethos of

conserving

as we construct and that has actually

helped us transform the business model

and also create impact on the built

environment and the industry

in singapore so 2014 we are all geared

up

for you know after paris agreement there

are a lot of big plans that we want to

do

but change came upon

uh it came upon me again in 2015

that life actually took a turn uh

my direct boss you know he just passed

on suddenly without any warning so that

was november 2015 just before cop 21

and i was really sick and sad and

worried and you know it’s like

what i’m what am i supposed to do

without my strongest support

so i really need to you know find a way

to regain the confidence and regain the

energy

so a family holiday at the end of you

know

the year 2015 really helped me to put me

back on the path of healing and in

finland

i was very fortunate i still remember

the feeling of like

seeing this you know beautiful northern

light dancing

above the frozen lake peach dart frozen

lake with

the dance of the dancing light it

actually reminded me that

how beautiful you know nature is and

reminded me

about my love for nature and my purpose

of my sustainability journey

as usher in 2016 with a new sense of

energy

and also a new sense of commitment that

we need to charge and over the few years

we really

you know did a lot and then we actually

helped the companies to achieve

top rating in the leading sustainability

rankings and all but last year like all

others in the world

you know the world almost came to a

heart and all our activities were put on

hold

but the doors are closed windows are

open

we did a lot of virtual events and all

that but

we did see something the silver lining

actually

shown through the pandemic last year for

sustainability

and we have seen the rapid growth of

esg funds which have actually tripled

and even sustainability bonds social

born green bonds have doubled

in the volume versus the year before so

now is we’re not just talking about

you know political regulations and we’re

not just talking about business

we need more champions on the ground as

well

and more change makers because that

makes a difference

and what we are hoping to have is to

enroll more people

to drive change on the ground what we

need is not we need not to be scientists

or you know an environmentalist we need

champions that have the passion have the

strong sense of commitment

hope and love just like this mother

when you have hope and the sense of

commitment nothing is too heavy on your

shoulder

and for our future i’m sure you can join

us

to save the future and change

is not a choice thank you