Happy Earth Day! Energy Reset, Coastal Defence & Slowing Down Ice Losses

The state of our planet & cryosphere may look bleak, but there’s a silver lining – the current energy crisis opens a window for an energy reset.

So, this Earth Day, we talk to Unviers’ Chun Yin Mak on how AI can unlock massive savings for energy systems while Ocean Recovery Alliance’s Doug Woodring makes the case for why high oil prices create a strategic opportunity for recycled plastic. We need to do this to slow down rapid ice melt which is accelerating sea level rise (SLR) … here, we surface 3 takeaways from Singapore’s new coastal defence bill – but are its defences high enough? To find out, we take stock of the extent of ice melt one year on from the first ever World Glacier Day.

As the Hormuz blockade sends oil and gas prices through the roof, countries around the world are reacting to rising fuel scarcity with power cuts and rationing. In these times of energy insecurity, it’s clear that energy efficiency creates tangible resilience outcomes. Who better to talk to about this than Univers, a leading AI & energy company providing digital intel for a fifth of global renewable energy?

Many have invested in renewables/ efficiency upgrades/ electrification but these systems often operate in silos. When distributed energy systems get exposed to volatility from grid constraints/ price fluctuations/ external disruptions, organizations need to ensure their operations can continue without interruption. That’s where Univers comes in – its tech breaks data silos.

Chun Yin Mak, Global Senior Vice President at Univers unpacks how the tech works, the role of AI and how it reached this scale … 365 million devices connected, 1005GW of renewables managed with 800+ customers worldwide. Check out our conversation here and find out what’s in store for energy savings 2.0 – every bit of energy saved is vital in times of energy insecurity!

High oil prices may be bad for those at the petrol pumps but plastic producers & consumers will feel it too. Virgin plastic is made from petrochemicals and low stable oil prices have made it so inexpensive that recycled plastics could not compete on cost.

Ocean Recovery Alliance’s Doug Woodring says that’s now changing as high oil prices and uncertainty around the availability of feedstock tips the economic balance in favour of recycled plastics. Coupled with the incoming UN Plastics Treaty framework to reduce plastic pollution, this is a rare moment when market forces are converging with regulation.

How can brands capitalise on recycling economics? What type of infrastructure investment is needed to unlock scale? Can we use this opportunity to mainstream second-life plastics? Find out in Woodring’s article.

Reducing fossil fuel reliance and upping energy savings are essential as they help reduce emissions, which in turn slows down warming, ice melt and fast rising seas. Indeed, the momentum for a “grand energy reset” is sorely needed in light of the WMO’s alarming State of the Global Climate 2025 report.

To spare you the details, just take UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ summary: “The State of the Global Climate is in a state of emergency. Planet Earth is being pushed beyond its limits. Every key climate indicator is flashing red”.

Yet, emissions are likely to reach new catastrophic heights due to additional emissions from longer maritime and flight trade routes as well as warfighting emissions. According to a study led by Queen Mary University of London, just two weeks of the US-Israel war in Iran has produced 5 million tonnes of emissions – equivalent to what Iceland emits in a year.

On top of this faster permafrost thaw and wildfires are also spewing out emissions, eating into our carbon budget. All this means that glaciers are melting faster than ever driving us to publish a Chinese version of the “13-Factsheet Guide to Stop the Melt”.

A lot has happened since the English version released last year on the first ever World Glacier Day. Back then, the English factsheets carried the slogan “2°C is too hot for ice”, now the Chinese factsheets say “1.5°C is too hot for ice”. This is because ice is more sensitive to warming than previously thought, leading ice scientists now say the safe limit for ice is closer to 1°C. We summarise key shifts in “Stop the Melt”– One Year On.

Faster ice melt means faster rising seas. But on top of this, we’ve just found out that SLR levels have been underestimated due to inaccurate modelling! WTF… 99% of evaluated impact assessments handled SLR and land elevation data inadequately – so much so that for some areas in South-East Asia and the Indo-Pacific seas could be 1.1m higher than previously estimated!

This is clearly not good as many things are underwater at 1m – see which key global oil ports; how many GW of powergen (all types) for China, South Korea & Japan; shares of property portfolios of Hong Kong’s top 4 property developers and which of CK Hutchison 43 ports for sale would be affected.

Not surprisingly, Singapore (an early mover on SLR) has stepped up on coastal defence. The low-lying island nation passed a Coastal Protection Bill this March to give legal backbone to the country’s ambitious coastal protection plans – to build a 300km continuous line of SLR defence around its entire coastline.

CWR’s Jamie Chan provides 3 updates on what this new bill means for the private sector. From structural shifts in government, new obligations for private landowners, to penalties for non-compliance and grant schemes to alleviate capital costs, Singapore’s bill sets a new global standard for coastal protection.

But is this defence high enough for higher and sooner SLR? Read this plus our ice factsheets (English / Chinese) and decide for yourself.

With swathes of Asia at stake, the growing body of science pointing to higher & sooner SLR must not be ignored. We are not being alarmist; the facts are alarming. The fact that we’ve published the Chinese ice factsheets with China’s national cryosphere institutes means that the country is aware of the alarming state of our cryosphere.

The time is now for a grand energy reset. At the same time, we must mount adequate coastal defence for higher & sooner sea level rise. Solving the problem starts with knowing the problem … so get on top of the state of our cryosphere with our “Stop the Melt” factsheets – in Chinese or English!

No more excuses … on this Earth Day, it’s up to us to save the planet.