NEW YORK: Member states of the United Nations need to redouble their efforts to mitigate climate change, said Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday (Sep 23), calling climate change the “ultimate global commons challenge”.

“As leaders, we all have the responsibility to do our part to rally our people’s support for sustainable development; to convince and educate our people that these efforts are important, and to safeguard our future, and the futures of our children and grandchildren,” Mr Lee said.

Mr Lee was speaking at the UN secretary-general’s Climate Action Summit – where governments shared plans and examples of how they are cutting emissions and boosting resilience to the impact of climate change.

He is in New York on a week-long working visit where he is to meet US President Donald Trump and will receive the 2019 World Statesman Award.

READ: PM Lee to meet President Trump, deliver speech at United Nations during visit to New York

“The consequences of climate change are catastrophic and affect all countries. New diseases, more extreme weather events, food shortages, forced migration and even wars,” Mr Lee said.

Mr Lee said Singapore will not be able to stop climate change on its own, however hard the country tries.

As such, Singapore is cooperating with other countries through initiatives such as the Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility, with the support of Japan and the World Bank.

The facility provides flood risk-pooling for the region, and the risk pool is meant to provide immediate liquidity to cover emergency response costs in the aftermath of regional catastrophes.

Singapore has also contributed S$5 million to the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre, based in Singapore, for a five-year regional capacity development programme for Southeast Asia.

The programme aims share technical knowledge and skills in weather and climate prediction, to help the region better adapt its policies to climate change.

Apart from these steps, Singapore has also played its part by switching to a cleaner fuel mix, and deploying cleaner energy solutions, Mr Lee said.

For instance, Singapore has implemented a carbon tax set at a rate of S$5 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions from 2019 to 2023. 

The country will review the carbon tax rate by 2023, with plans to increase it to between S$10 and S$15 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

READ: NDR 2019: Climate change one of the ‘gravest challenges facing mankind’, impact on Singapore to worsen, says PM Lee

The country is also installing large-scale solar panels that float in its reservoirs and off its shores.

“Being small and highly urbanised, we are disadvantaged in terms of alternative energy, but we are developing creative solutions within our constraints,” Mr Lee said.

Mr Lee’s comments at the summit come after he spoke at the National Day Rally about the “50 to 100-year problem” of rising sea levels, an issue which could cost Singapore around S$100 billion or more to tackle. He had called climate change “one of the gravest challenges facing humankind”.

SINGAPORE: About 450 applications were received as of 5pm from registered e-scooter owners looking to dispose of their devices that do not meet new fire safety standards, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Monday (Sep 23). 

This is a fraction of the 90,000 e-scooters registered with LTA, of which 90 per cent do not meet the UL2272 safety requirement. 

Monday was the first day of LTA’s S$100 incentive scheme for e-scooter owners who agree to dispose of their devices early, ahead of next July’s ban on the use of such devices here. 

To qualify for the S$100, the e-scooters must have been registered, and owners have to bring the devices to a designated disposal point. 

READ: LTA’s S$100 incentive for early disposal of non-compliant e-scooters: What you need to know

Only two of these disposal points were opened on Monday, according to LTA’s list of the 181 locations and their opening hours. 

At LTA’s Sin Ming office, the first e-scooter user arrived just after 11am. By noon, five people had turned up to surrender their devices but two were not eligible for the cash incentive.

One of them was a woman with a non-registered e-scooter, who demanded to know why she did not qualify for the S$100.

Another user who was not eligible for the incentive said he had bought the device secondhand from his friend for S$200.

“I will give it back to my friend and take my money back,” he said.

While the ban on non-compliant personal mobility devices (PMD) kicks in only next July, a user said he would rather “get rid of it early” and “spend (the money) on some drinks”.

The man, who declined to be named, turned up at LTA’s Sin Ming office with a one-wheel scooter he bought two years ago.

“I bought this two years ago on a Kickstarter project it just got delivered to me two years later. It is not UL2272 certified but now I can’t do anything about it so I am not happy,” he said.

READ: Preventing PMD fires: Tips on charging your device safely

At the other designated disposal point near Block 209 Boon Lay Place, there was a short queue of PMD users waiting for the collection point to open at 5pm.

A 57-year-old who wanted to be known as Eric Lim came with two registered e-scooters, which he had bought for S$1,000 and S$600.

When asked how he felt about the ban and the early disposal incentive, he said he had “no choice”, but that he understood LTA’s decision to ban non-UL2272 scooters due to the spate of fires caused by such devices. 

“I don’t blame the government because there is no choice,” said Mr Lim, adding that he will not buy any more e-scooters after this. 

“Now that there are so many rules to follow, this thing (scooter) gives you so much stress and worry. Will you keep it or not? No right,” he said. “You buy a certain thing is to make your life easier but now it became like this.”

READ: Fires involving e-scooters, e-bikes spike by 50% in 2018

READ: How your lithium-ion battery could be an explosive danger

Another user, who only wanted to be known as Mr Lim, had similar sentiments.

“I think it is a good thing. Because of the high capacity batteries, so many fires have occurred. So it is good to be more regulated in that sense,” he said.

The 35-year-old, who lives across from the Boon Lay Place disposal point, had been using his S$500 scooter for more than two years.

As he had been looking at ways to dispose of it, he welcomed LTA’s S$100 early disposal incentive.

“Previously I was actually looking at recyclers who would take it in but then I have to go all the way to Tuas which is very inconvenient,” said Mr Lim.

“The S$100 is an additional bonus for me because I was already thinking of how to dispose of it for free,” he added. “From what I heard, I may even need to pay for it to be recycled.”

Mr Lim plans to get a new e-scooter that meets the new safety standard, to travel to work like he used to.

The S$100 incentive goes on until Nov 30. 

Those who dispose of their e-scooters after Nov 30 don’t qualify for the S$100 incentive, but they can still drop off their devices at the designated points until Mar 31, 2020.

LONDON: Oil rose further above US$64 a barrel on Monday, supported by doubts about how quickly Saudi Arabia can restore output after a crippling attack this month and a resulting greater focus by investors on supply risks.

Despite efforts by the top crude exporter to reassure the market it can resume full production by the end of September, state oil company Saudi Aramco has asked some customers to switch crude grades and delay shipments.

“The geopolitical risk premium has returned with a vengeance and supply-side developments have been thrust back into the spotlight,” Stephen Brennock of oil broker PVM said.

“While Saudi oil facilities smoulder, the potential for fresh outages in Nigeria, Libya and Venezuela continues to hang over the market.”

Brent crude was up 31 cents at US$64.59 a barrel at 0911 GMT, having risen as high as US$65.50. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 28 cents to US$58.37.

Brent has gained 18per cent this year, helped by a supply-limiting pact led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, although concern about slowing economic growth has limited the advance.

A survey on Monday showed euro zone business growth stalled this month, and the latest U.S.-China talks have failed to produce signs of a breakthrough in the two countries’ prolonged trade dispute.

“Investors remain unconvinced that a trade deal is about to see the light of day soon,” said Hussein Sayed, analyst at broker FXTM. “That’s likely to put a cap on any further gains in risk assets.”

Tension in the Middle East has escalated since the Saudi attack, also lending oil some support. The Pentagon has ordered additional U.S. troops to be deployed in the Gulf region to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s air and missile defences.

Britain believes Iran was responsible for the attack and will work with the United States and European allies on a joint response, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. The United States and Saudi Arabia have already blamed Iran, which denies responsibility.

(Additional reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Dale Hudson)