Singapore and Carbon Emission Cuts

Being an environmentalist, I keep an eye on the proceedings of the Copenhagen summit this coming December. Being a Singapore too, I am interested in observing the response of Singapore to this conference and its probable promise of emission reduction targets.

So I am somewhat amused at two Straits Times reports on the government's response to emission cuts. The first (Climate change a challenge) revolves around a statement by the prime minister:

'Therefore, provided other countries also commit to do their part in a global deal, we will reduce emissions from 'business-as-usual' levels and do what we need to do with other countries to reduce humankind's carbon-dioxide emissions.'

Sounds good? But just one day before, he had his minister set the tone first (in this aggressively-titled S'pore rejects emission cuts),

'Whatever we do, we cannot compromise our ability to grow. So how we find a balance will be a continuous process.'

Of course, Singapore has no official obligation to obey any emissions deal, since we are not what is called an Annex I party under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Non-Annex I parties are mainly developing countries and a few which have economies that are vulnerable to emission cuts.

One can understand why Singapore, with a huge oil refining/trading economy, is quick to emphasise its non-responsibility. But doesn't that make the prime minister's words,

'But as a responsible member of the international community, we have to bear our fair share of the collective global effort to reduce carbon emissions.

a bit hypocritical?