Race to Sustainability! Corporate Symposium - Ms Grace Fu

Good morning. It is my pleasure to join you for the tenth edition of Race to Sustainability and the inaugural corporate symposium.

Being here at Gardens by the Bay, let’s ask ourselves a few questions. What's the significance of this place? How did this even come about? And is there a contradiction between protection of the environment, biodiversity, and economic development?

We are in a very highly built area of a park that is very well planted, landscaped, and resourced. I was just going through with the students that were participating in the race and explaining to them about the science that has gone into making the greenhouses as energy efficient as possible, as close to an office grade building. Given the volume of air that we need to cool, that was a really uphill task.

But we managed to do it through several technologies and design. We managed to think ahead about the need to conserve energy, to mitigate carbon emission as we develop. And as we incorporate the beautiful flora and fauna that came with it, the beautiful water that we have created, wouldn't this be a wonderful place for us to teach our young, our new generation, about how beautiful environment is and what biodiversity is? Is there a role for adaptation, to help us to preserve, conserve biodiversity in a place like Gardens by the Bay?

Think about the roles that different stakeholders have played in bringing this vision into reality, starting from the fact that we are standing on reclaimed land. We reclaim, but instead of using it entirely for development, for offices, for residential units, we have dedicated a significant part of this reclaimed land to a garden, a garden that has to be accessible by all. All Singaporeans, not just tourists, but everyone. Regardless of your background or income level, you get free access.

But at the same time, we need a way to adapt to the weather of Singapore, the humidity, the very high heat in the middle of the day, the regular rain showers that we get. How do you make this place still pleasant for visitors, given the kind of weather conditions that we are in?

Thus, the two greenhouses, the conservatories. This is a delicate balance between development, environmental protection and conservation, and social inclusion. A large part of the park is free for access, activities that allow anyone to come in to enjoy, whether it's mid-autumn or concerts, and now we have a beautiful art piece that's telling us the need to protect environment and protect wildlife – the orangutan that's standing very stoically in the middle of the Gardens by the Bay.

This is really a concrete example of what you need to do between government - the planners, the policy makers; businesses that support the development of this very beautiful garden and keep it going - the sponsors, the technology providers; the people that keep it running - maintenance contractors, and so on. And also the people that contribute ideas, the people that give a lot of new life. The fact that we have an orangutan structure itself is a reflection of how different stakeholders can participate to always make this place more relevant, more significant to all of us.

This is, in a way, microcosm of how we should think about adaptation for Singapore and development. How can we develop Singapore given our land constraints, our need for economic development, our need to protect the environment that we are in, at the same time to ensure social inclusion in this process?

Using Gardens by the Bay as an example, as a reflection, as an inspiration, I hope that all of you can get some ideas as we go into this symposium. The world ahead of us is going to be quite challenging because, first of all, geopolitical considerations have really affected the global cooperation on very serious challenges like climate change. We desperately need global leadership on this common global challenge.

But at the same time, I also see in this fragmentation the wonderful rooms that have been created for people to participate, for countries to cooperate closely, for academia to directly influence and provide the data that is needed to guide us, the science that is so important in helping us navigate the future. Instead of seeing haze and dark clouds, I’d like to see this as the start of a movement to help us, the lights that's going to help guide us towards our North Star, which is a much better future starting from today with action today, with knowledge that's guiding us, with inputs from the people, from the local community, and more importantly, the mind share of climate and sustainability in the minds of businesses as well.

Have a fruitful discussion. This is not just another symposium when we all come here and listen to speeches, but this is a time for us to commit to action through working with one another. Thank you very much.