GREEN CARS

GREEN CARS:

(Separate category of Certificates of Entitlement): 8.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources what is the long-term target for proportion of clean cars on our roads and whether his Ministry will push for a separate "green car" category of Certificates of Entitlement to increase the uptake of 'green cars'.

The Minister for the Environment and Water Resources (Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim): Mr Speaker, Sir, my Ministry is keen to promote Green Vehicles that are less pollutive and more fuel-efficient than conventional vehicles. There are in fact various ways to do so. Dr Lim has suggested a separate 'green car' category of Certificates of Entitlement (COE). We had previously studied this idea with the Ministry of Transport and concluded that it would not be appropriate for various reasons.

First, besides the cost, the pick-up rate of Green Vehicles is also affected by other factors, such as consumer preference, and the provision of maintenance support by the dealers. Their demand, therefore, is best left to the consumers to decide.

Second, in fact, it would be difficult to set a quota for such Green Vehicles. As with all vehicle categories, their growth annually would be capped as a result. But if Green Vehicles do not have a separate COE category, their take-up can increase freely in response to the demand, because they are part of the total vehicle population.

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To promote the adoption of Green Vehicles, my Ministry had introduced the Green Vehicle Rebate Scheme in 2001. The Scheme aims to narrow the cost gap between such Green Vehicles and conventional ones. We had enhanced the Scheme in January 2006, and the number of Green Vehicles on our roads has since picked up significantly from 198 to 716 as at end December 2006.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Mr Speaker, one of the common complaints that has been given by the public is that they would like to drive a green vehicle. But the problem is that the importers are not bringing in enough models and even if the models are brought in, sometimes it is not appropriate for their economic status. It is no point bringing in a RX400 whereby most people cannot afford. So I am not sure whether by implementing a green category COE, it will help to further promote and force the importers to bring in such models to cater for the market that acts as a catalyst. I would also like to ask the Minister whether, especially with the release of the Fourth IPCC Report that was stated in the Straits Times on global warming, Singapore should adopt more measures now to encourage environmental sustainability and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Yaacob Ibrahim: Sir, in fact, there is a selection of green vehicles available in the market - the Prius from Toyota, the Honda and, of course, the Lexus that Dr Lim mentioned. We feel that it is best we leave this to the market. In fact, the incentive schemes that we have put in place in 2001 have proven to be effective. Consumers are buying green vehicles despite the cost differential but with the upfront 40% OMV, which is the rebate, it has in fact caused a lot of people to cross over. We constantly work with the dealers to encourage them to bring in different types of models. And I agree with Dr Lim that this is a chicken-and-egg situation, ie, you have to provide

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more models and therefore people will be willing to buy. I recall that Mr Hri Kumar, during the debate, mentioned that he could not buy something below $80,000. In fact, I would like to tell him that there is a model now by Honda which is below $80,000, which is a green vehicle, and I hope he will buy one.

Sir, on the second question by Dr Lim on the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, I agree with Dr Lim that climate change is an important global challenge, and we in Singapore would have to do our part to reduce greenhouse gas emission and, of course, to maintain our good reputation as an environmentally conscious city. This point, Sir, has been raised by many MPs during the recent Budget debate and my Ministry fully agrees that the Government has a key role to play in raising awareness about global warming and to ensure that Singapore's long-term environmental sustainability is maintained. But I think we have to be mindful that we are a small country. So whatever that we do, if we do it alone, I do not think it will make a difference to global changes, such as climate change. But we must play our part as a responsible member of the international community. But if we do not have the big countries like the US, China and India on board, there will be no significant reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, regardless of what we do here in Singapore. Because of that, we also adopt a more balanced approach towards environmental sustainability. So we ratified the Kyoto Protocol and we have put in place measures to improve energy efficiency. I announced in Parliament that the way to go is really to look at our consumption of energy and how best we can optimise it. If we do this well, we can bring down our emissions, not absolute, but our emissions per GDP dollar or, what we call, carbon intensity. At the same time, this will not affect our economy, but, in fact, will render our economy more resource-efficient and more competitive. So if we

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are able to put in place the programmes that we have announced, I think we can do our part to bring down some of our emissions but, more importantly, we become more efficient in the way we use energy.

At the same time, Sir, we will have to maintain our good air and water quality because it is good for Singapore and Singaporeans. Not only does it affect the health and quality of living, but it has, in fact, become an economic competitive advantage for us because, with the good air and water quality, we have been able to attract talent, businesses and tourists. At the same time, we will use this opportunity to grow the industry so that we can then get the industry to provide solutions to environmental challenges as well as create job opportunities.

Sir, in the long run, we will do our part as a small country. But we recognise that we will need to get other big countries on board, and we hope that Dr Lim will support our initiative on the ground in terms of energy efficiency.