Climate Change: Past, Present, Future

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Net Zero

Climate Change: Past, Present, Future

By SMU City Perspectives team

Published 19 October, 2020

Why our content is credible

POINT OF VIEW

One aspect that needs addressing in being a sustainable city-state is the requirement to stop using fossil fuels as quickly as possible, especially since emissions from burning these fuels is the key factor behind global warming and climate change.

Winston Chow

Associate Professor of Urban Climate, Singapore Management University

Fiona Williamson

Associate Professor of Environmental History, Singapore Management University

In brief

The green infrastructure surrounding SMU is part of the University's efforts to make sure a successful city in nature exists. The trees help provide shade and reduce the urban island heat effect. SMU also has the largest solar farm in downtown Singapore, which contributes to reducing the annual campus energy consumption by 7.5%.
Applying new building technologies is a key step forward in Singapore’s actions to deal with the climate emergency. Singapore’s building sector has a large environmental footprint. The SMU Connexion building, for example, was built in a way that reduces carbon emissions.
Urban greenery is a key component of SMU's history with modern urban cooling strategies. SMU and other businesses are redefining urban working with green solutions that connect us with our past, present and future of urban living.

While we forge ahead with urban development and technological advancements, let's pause and take a leaf from history and see how the past can offer us a different perspective in mitigating climate change.

We will show how present day Singapore is vulnerable to the climate crisis, but more importantly how the city state has been managing the global challenge, one footprint at a time.

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On the Fence

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This video, featuring Associate Professors Winston Chow and Fiona Williamson, was shown at the Singapore Business Series - Singapore Pavilion @ World Expo Dubai 2020.

Inside the mind of

Winston Chow is an Associate Professor of Urban Climate at Singapore Management University. He is also a Lee Kong Chian Fellow. His research focuses on Urban Vulnerability to Climate Change, Urban Heat Island Science, Impacts and Mitigation Sustainability in Urban Climatology and Perceptions of Environmental and Climate Change in Tourism. He also teaches Climate Change: Global and Local Solutions and Technological innovations enhancing urban sustainability.

Fiona Williamson serves as an Associate Professor of Environmental History; Associate Dean (Undergraduate Education); and Basket Coordinator for Technology & Society at Singapore Management University. Her research focuses on the environmental history of Singapore, British Malaya, and Hong Kong, the history of the climate, climate change and extreme weather and climate and its impact on colonial cities. She is especially interested in how the weather has shaped culture and society; inter-disciplinary projects with scientists and geographers on the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, the recovery of historical observational weather data for climate modelling, and the history of nature-induced disasters in Asia.