6th Asia Environment Lecture
The 6th Asia Environment Lecture was held on 8th October 2018 at the Shaw Foundation Alumni House. This lecture series started in 2013 and since its beginning, world leaders championing environmental sustainability were invited to speak, providing the audience with an opportunity to gain insights on issues pertaining to environmental conservation and sustainability. The event is a joint effort by the NUS Bachelor of Environmental Studies programme, Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL) and NUS Masters of Environmental Management programme. It is also co-organised by City Developments Limited.
The speaker for this year’s lecture is Dr Richard SANDOR, Chairman and CEO of American Financial Exchange LLC and Environmental Financial Products LLC. Dr Sandor was named “Hero of the Planet” in 2002 by TIME magazine for his work with the Chicago Climate Exchange, the world’s first exchange to facilitate the reduction and trading of all six greenhouse gases. For his lecture, Dr Sandor focused on initiatives such as the Chicago Climate Exchange and the US Acid Rain Programme, an effort by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to reduce levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides which cause acid rain. He shared how these programmes enable the building of institutions to reduce transactional costs and achieve better environmental quality. Dr Sandor also discussed new frontiers and opportunities in areas like water quality and quantity, and the application of new technologies like blockchain to environmental markets.
Year 4 student NG Jing Yi Venessa said, “It was an amazing experience to hear Dr Sandor speak on leveraging disruptive emerging technology to address environmental problems. The most effective solution to environmental issues is to speak the language that most people understand, and let market forces do the rest of the work.”