Two years ago, when law firm WongPartnership embarked on measuring and looking to reduce its carbon footprint, the firm’s lawyers noticed that more of its clients were becoming environmentally conscious, with some even coming from the cleantech industry.
WongPartnership became the first law firm here to set up an environmental and green economy practice in 2010 to tap the opportunity. But the shaky global economy has caused companies to scale down fundraising for projects in this area, and cut the amount of “green financing” available, said Mr Low Kah Keong, co-head of the practice.
As such, the practice has not “taken off as expected”, although it is well-placed to capture future opportunities in a world that is increasingly aware of ideas like sustainability reporting and emissions cap-and-trade systems, said Mr Low.
The practice has handled work across disciplines including mergers and acquisitions, carbon derivatives and “green financing” - where project owners turn to green funds or investors - and a significant amount of the work is international.
For instance, Mr Low has been involved in a green business trust managed in Singapore seeking to invest in renewable energy projects in South-east Asia. The practice has also advised a Chinese hydropower company on the sale of its emissions allowance.
Whether the amount of “green” legal work here grows will depend on government and regulatory reforms, said co-head of the practice, Ms Rosabel Ng.
Governments have to ensure policies and laws for consumers and companies “to promote the efficient, safe and responsible way of doing things”, and prevent companies from unfairly exploiting resources for short-term gain, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan at WongPartnership’s inaugural Leaders Forum yesterday.
They also have to set the right prices for scarce resources.
Dr Balakrishnan said that, while Singapore would not unilaterally impose a carbon tax for competitive reasons, “on a global level, the concept of paying for the externalities has to be addressed at some point in time”.
He added: “Hopefully, when we get to that point in time, Singapore will have to play its part and our legislation and regulatory framework will have to express that”.
Australia, for instance, passed a carbon tax law last November and will tax the emissions of the country’s top 500 polluters from July.
But, even as some investors think twice about green projects, solar energy giant REC is upbeat about prospects. Its general manager for systems in the Asia-Pacific region, Mr Andreas Balzer, said at the forum that solar power would be commercially viable in Singapore in “four to five years”.
