Commentary on Singapore Budget 2021 Clean and Green Transport

For those who live in Singapore, there is a new budget 2021 to encourage clean and green transport. While I am an advocate of Green Views and Green Logistics, I have not been really wooed by its initiatives.

Electric Vehicle

Electric Vehicle (EV) is not a new technology and has greatly suffered from existent of combustion ecosystem. This make it more expensive from consumers to make the switch from combustion vehicle to EV. Having EV only means lesser combustion gases and does not eliminate the carbon footprint from the energy source. Batteries are also lethal and difficult to dispose. Moreover, majority of vehicles own by general consumers are idling in car parks since Singapore is a small area.

Green Public Transport and Logistics

The only vehicles to experience high usage and carbon footprint lies solely in a single area i.e Logistics and Public Transportations. This means Green Logistics and Green Public Transport. Do be aware that there is a difference between Public Transport and Green Public Transport. Imagine the entire fleet of Public Transport and Logistics converting to Electric with end to end Green processes. The carbon cost savings would be much higher than a subset of consumer whose vehicles are idling most of time. Of course, one wonders who should be paying for the conversion.

Green Adoption

I am a believer of cause and effect and very positive that Green Adoption can be encouraged with incentives. However, the approach to offset this encouragement with higher Petrol Duty seem diminished as these higher costs are usually pass on to the consumers. The approach to use push factor instead of pull do not appeal to the millennium generations. Overall, the view to move towards a Green Transport is good but seems skewed towards the focus on the general consumers rather than commercial consumers. Without a sound education and Green Ecosystem, the approach will always be stop-gap and partial. All in all, it is a good baby step but I always feel that more can be done.

---

Disclaimer: Views expressed are opinions from the author’s own professional and personal capacity and do not represent the view of any organisation.