As seen from the figure above, Singapore seems to outperform the rest of the world in terms of wealth. Majority of Singaporeans have wealth >= USD $10,000.

In 2017 itself, it was reported that the average wealth of Singaporean adults here is in the 9th spot globally. There is potential for further growth as Singapore’s household wealth grew 3.4% to US$1.2 trillion in mid-2017.

Is this good or bad towards our emission levels?

I will be using the study conducted by Cederborg and Snöbohm (2016). They postulated 2 opposing viewpoints as to the impact of GDP on Environmental damage. The turning point for the 2 curves is said to be USD $10,000 per capita GDP (Dietz & Rosa, 1997).

1. The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC)

Trend 1: An initial increase in GDP leads to increase in environmental damage.

Scale Effect

• Characterized by industrial-heavy production
• It is the initial increase in environmental degradation as economies grow. This is due to the increased input needed and output produced.

Trend 2: A further increase in GDP (beyond turning point) leads to decrease in environmental damage

Composition effect

• There is a shift from production-based to a service-oriented economy
• There is less pollution coming from good production

Increased demand for a clean planet

• As income increases, there could be more willingness to pay for a clean environment
• There could be more investments in energy efficiency and greater demand for environmentally friendly products

2. The Brundtland Curve

Trend 1: An initial increase in GDP leads to decrease in environmental damage

• As a country grows out of poverty, they have more ability to prioritise environmental wellbeing and do not need to rely as much on resource exploitation to survive

Trend 2: An further increase in GDP (beyond turning point) leads to increase in environmental damage

• People become wealthier and consume more resources. An increase in production is needed to meet this demand, leading to more pollution.

Singapore

Based on Lane’s (2016) finding (below), I broke down Singapore’s trend into the 2 curves as described.

We seem to be approaching a Brundtland trend. Let us investigate if the Brundtland model indeed applies currently.

We will focus on the trend beyond the turning point as our GDP per capita has averaged USD $22952.93 per capita GDP from 1990 to 2016. This is definitely > the postulated turning point of USD $10,000 per capita GDP.

Currently, our annual GDP per capita (affluence) is increasing.

This has been followed by a corresponding increase in emissions and environmental damage.

Therefore, beyond the turning point, it has been found that as GDP increases, emissions increases as well (The Brundtland Curve).

Let’s use an example to illustrate why.

One of the reasons could be that our increasing wealth has been followed by a corresponding increase in our oil consumption (see below). When oil – a type of fossil fuel is used for energy, it directly generates emissions.

Hence, an increase in affluence leads to increase in emissions (detrimental effect).