Assignment:
Word limit: 1200 words, across all questions. Marks will be deducted for exceeding the word limit.
Marking: Marks will be awarded based on how well you: (a) understand the economic conceptsfrom the lectures; (b) apply the appropriate concepts to the question(s); (c) conduct systematic analysis using the concepts; (d) engage in critical discussion; and (e) draw conclusions.
Presentation: Assignments must be typed, using 10 - 12 sized font and 1.5 - 2 line spacing.Graphs and diagrams can be hand drawn and scanned in, but must be clearly drawn and clearly labeled.
Read the attached newspaper article for some background on the issue of climate change in Singapore: "Singapore pledges new 2030 greenhouse gas targets to limit climate change"-The Straits Times, 3rd July 2015.
Then use economic analysis to answer the following questions. Ensure that you use relevant economic concepts (and diagrams, where appropriate) in your answers. Note that general layman or broadbrush journalistic discussions do not constitute sufficient economic analysis.
QUESTIONS:
1. According to economic theory, under what circumstances should a government intervene in issues of climate change?
Extra pointers to include:
-Economic analysis
-Climate change: Global warming problems?
-Economic causes of climate change
-Negative extrenalities: explanation,diagrams, market failure
-Are third parties in society affected?
-World production and consumption point of view
2. Climate change results from particular human activities in every country across the world. To What extent can government intervention in any individual country such as Singapore be effective in combating it?
Extra pointers to include:
-If individual government implement policies, to what extent will it help achieve desired outcome?
3. What different public policy solutions are available to an individual government such asSingapore's to combat climate change? What are the pros and cons of each? Extra pointers:
-Have 3 public policies, elaborated and explained, with pros and cons listed clearly. (example of public policy can be: policy to reduce carbon emissions
-1 policy to have negative externality diagram (Eg; Tax on goods to help solve problems?)
4. Provide examples of what each of us as private individuals can do to combat climate change in the absence of government regulation. Is this kind of private solution likely to be effective?
Extra pointers:
-Individually what can we do? (eg; drive less, cycle instead) Would these improve the situation?
- Have at least 3 solutions with proper elaboration
THE STRAITS TIMES
Singapore pledges new 2030 greenhouse gas targets to limit climate change
Singapore now accounts for just 0.11 per cent of global emissions, even though it contributes 2.2 per cent of global trade. PHOTO: ST FILE
PUBLISHED JUL 3, 2015, 4:41 PM SGT
Feng Zengkun (mailto:[email protected])
SINGAPORE - Singapore has outlined two new environmental targets for the country for the year 2030, in line with global plans to limit climate change and its impact on the world.
Government has pledged that Singapore's greenhouse gas emissions will peak around 2030 at uivalent of about 65 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, even if the economy continues to grow hat year.
The country will also become more efficient in its economic activity, and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted to achieve each dollar of gross domestic product (GDP).
In 2005, it created the equivalent of about 0.176kg of carbon dioxide for each GDP dollar. It aims to lower this to 0.113kg per dollar by 2030, a reduction of about 36 per cent.
Singapore now accounts for just 0.11 per cent of global emissions, even though it contributes 2.2 per cent of global trade.
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who is chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change, said: "For a very small country with limited alternative energy resources, the stabilisation of our emissions with the aim of peaking around 2030 requires serious efforts by everyone.
"We have to strive for higher levels of energy efficiency, including deployment of best-in-class technologies."
The new targets were submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on Friday as Singapore's contribution to the global fight against climate change.
The UNFCCC is a framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle climate change. It has near universal membership, with 195 nations and the European Union having ratified the convention, including Singapore.
Parties to the convention are supposed to submit their pledged contributions ahead of a meeting in Paris in December this year to develop a new global climate agreement.
This agreement is for the post-2020 period, to further the UN's goal of limiting global warming to 2 deg C more than pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
Scientists have said that, given current emission trends, the earth is on track for double that increase, which is likely to cause disastrous droughts, storms, floods and rising sea levels.
Even before the new targets, Singapore had been taking action to reduce its emissions. If the country had done nothing to become greener after 2005, it would have emitted the greenhouse gas equivalent of 77.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by the year 2020.
In 2009, it pledged to reduce its actual emissions by 7 to 11 per cent below this projection, and to increase the commitment to 16 per cent if there was a legally-binding global agreement on climate change