Singapore Environmental Stability

Not long ago in the 1960s Singapore was perceived as a dark, dirty and dangerous
place and it was unmistakably a developing nation. But in 1965, 2 years after
Singapore gained independence from Britain; the Prime Minister at the time Lee
Kuan Yew declared his plans to use greenery to distinguish the weak and largely
underprivileged city-state from other Asian countries in the hopes of appealing to
international investors and tourists as well as to soften the harsh truths of urban life.
A sizeable amount of large companies require low energy costs and set solutions to
environmental challenges, both of which are the motivation of business organizations
such as the Singapore Sustainability Alliance, a cooperation of governments
agencies, NGOs, industry representatives and academic institutions that work with
current companies and new prospects to take advantage of its sustainability program
and to aid with the embracement of sustainable practices. The cooperations
business-development programs consist of sustainable manufacturing practices,
sustainable water consumption, waste management and recycling, and energy
efficiency.
Singapore also offers support to businesses that specialize in clean technology by
the means of the Cleantech sector of its Economic Development Board. The board's
director Goh Chee Kiong said that the business sector went through continued
robust growth this year in renewable energy, energy efficiency, electric mobility,
smart grids, water conservation and green buildings.
Singapore creates about 0.11% of global emissions. In terms of CO 2 emissions per
dollar GDP, based on International Energy Agency (IEA) data, Singapore ranks 123 rd
of 142 countries. It also ranks 26th out of 142 countries in terms of emissions per
capita based on the most recent IEA data. This is largely due to the dense
populations and small size.

There have been suggestions that only wealthy cities can be green and
environmentally sustainable, I think for Singapore, it is the other way round.
Singapore is doing well economically because it is environmentally conscious. This
consciousness is very much in policy making, land use planning and community
engagement, and is essential for Singapore to be a liveable city and sustainable
economy.
-

Khoo Teng Chye, director of Singapore's Centre for Liveable Cities

Singapore Distribution of Income

Singapore has been dealing with an inequality problem for years; their income
inequality is significantly higher than the other economically-developed countries in
OECD. In 2013 Singapores Gini coefficient after taxes and transfers was 0.414. The
government isnt doing much to fix this; instead they are attempting to delude
Singaporeans into thinking that the income inequality isnt as bad as it appears by
using a new scale to compute the Gini coefficient.
Minimum wage has also been a topic of conversation in Singapore when it comes to
income distribution due to the fact that Singapore presently doesnt have any fixed
minimum wage, and continues to stay in the minority amongst developed and
developing countries that have put it into effect.
Despite being one of the prosperous countries in the world, Singapore has a growing
poverty problem. According to data published in 2011, 10-12% of households in
Singapore fall under the poverty line which is $1250 per month, per household.
$2500 - $3000 is what you need to earn to avoid being socially excluded. 23 26%
of Singaporean households income all below the upper band of $3000. This equals
to 1 to 1.1 million individuals.
People in the bottom 20% spend more than they earn. The Singapore Department of
Statistics illustrates that the bottom 20 percentile of household spent a monthly
average of $2231 yet this same group only earns an average of $2022, or a deficit of
$209 per month.

Environmental:

Singapore going green

Businesses
CO2 Emissions

Distribution of income:

Gini Coefficient
Minimum Wage
Poverty