The Singapore government wants that the country has to rebalance its priorities and put more weight on adapting to climate impacts, as geopolitics has put a damper on efforts to reduce carbon emissions. This focus on adaptation is timely for a city-state exposed to climate change impacts such as rising temperatures and sea levels.

The government views come at a time when global efforts to tackle the root cause of climate change — fossil fuel use — are coming under attack from political rhetoric and economic concerns, giving rise to fears that climate change impacts will escalate.

The earth has already warmed by around 1.3 deg C since pre-industrial times and lock­ed-in global warming has been driving disasters from powerful cyclones to heatwaves.

Climate threats have been inching closer to Singapore in recent years. From temperatures soaring to 37 deg C in May 2023 and some episodes of coastal flooding when heavy rain coincided with high tides, the Republic has experienced a taste of extreme weather.

Hazy conditions could also become a mainstay in Singapore in a world on fire. The parliament was told on Feb 12 that climate change will bring about drier conditions and higher temperatures that could fuel potential wildfires in the region, bringing haze to Singapore. Both adaptation and mitigation, or cutting emissions, are equally important in the effort to tackle climate change.

If solutions to reduce emissions are the “antidote” for long-term global heating, then adaptation serves as a “vaccine” to protect people and places from harsher consequences of exposure to extreme heat, floods and food crises. This is especially relevant for Singapore for a few reasons.

First, Singapore, being low-lying and exposed to tropical heat all year, is not sheltered from climate risks. This is something that the private sector is increasingly concerned with.

For example, if companies were to delay installing flood and coastal defences, insurers may impose high premiums, forcing business costs to go up in the long run.

In a recent study, insurance broker Willis Towers Watson found that losses linked to flo­ods in South-east Asia may grow by as much as 1,000 per cent in the coming years. Floo­ding across the region may result in economic losses well above $10 billion, compared with the $1 billion to $2 billion range typ­­i­­­cal of major regional flood events over the past decade, said the report published in January.

Under a proposed law tabled in parliament in early February, government agencies and private companies that occupy land along Singapore’s shorelines have to implement measures to shield their coastal areas from rising seas, or face a fine and jail term. Waterfront companies are understandably concerned about the costs of implementing coastal defences.

Yet, even without such a law, experts have cautioned that if protection measures are not undertaken in advance, insurance premiums will soar, further affecting business costs in the future. Mr Lee Adam Harryman, head of the Climate Resilience Studio at CPG Consultants, said insurance providers are increasingly factoring flood and coastal risk into their assessments.

He added: “Over time, assets located in high-risk areas may face rising premiums, or more limited insurance options. “In many ways, insurance considerations may play the role of a quiet driver of climate adaptation, even if indirectly.”

Two, home-grown solutions to prevent coastal floods and heat illnesses can also bring about economic opportunities for the country. A minister said at the Feb 11 dialogue that even while addressing climate change impacts, there is scope for the country to reap economic value from them, citing Singapore’s work in exporting water technologies.—The Straits Times (Singapore)/ANN

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2026