Seen and heard this week
In a commentary on 28 March in Eco-Business, Research Associate Ms Jacqueline Tao and Research Fellow Mr Gautam Jindal from the Energy Studies Institute at NUS discussed how Singapore still has a long way to go before emerging as the green finance champion of the region. The writers shared how Singapore adopts two distinct approaches in its transition to a low-carbon sustainable economy — promoting the flow of capital towards projects that address environmental and climate concerns, and managing environmental and social risks associated with climate change. They opined that the challenge lies not in a lack of awareness, but in translating awareness into action and that educational campaigns aimed at empowering citizens to tackle climate change concerns may be more effective in nudging individuals and institutions to embrace sustainability.
Associate Professor Nitin Pangarkar from NUS Business revealed why he has few concerns about the recently announced Grab-Uber merger leading to monopolistic prices in a Channel NewsAsia commentary on 29 March. He said that the merger would not affect innovation as the low market entry barriers mean that Grab would continue to innovate in order to retain customers and enhance its profit streams, and that there is a “cap” on how much prices can be raised since consumers could easily switch to alternative modes of transport. He added that the discontinuation of massive discounts was also bound to happen at some point, with or without the merger, due to its unsustainable nature.
Professor Liew Mun Leong from NUS Business and NUS Engineering sat down for an interview with Channel NewsAsia on 1 April to look back on his achievements and lessons learnt spanning an illustrious career in both the public and private sector. The Chairman of Changi Airport Group also spoke about the introduction of higher passenger fees and levies from 1 July to help fund the airport’s expansion including the new Terminal 5, explaining that the expansion is needed to keep up with growth and maintain Changi Airport’s regional hub status and this should be done without putting a strain on the overall budget or handing over ownership to the capital market which could harm Singapore’s long term interests.
Read more about the NUS community in the news.
