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