The industry sector is responsible for the production of goods and raw materials we use in our daily lives. They burn fossil fuels to obtain energy for production to occur. In the process, greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere.
By 2020, it is projected that 60.3% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in Singapore will be due to the industry sector. This makes it the largest contributor to Singapore’s greenhouse gas emissions (“Singapore’s Emissions Profile,” 2019).
Increased greenhouse gas emissions have led to a rise in global temperature, in turn leading to a rise in sea levels. Hence, it is crucial to understand the behaviour of industries so that we can tackle the problem.
Tragedy of the Commons
My analysis of the behaviour of industries will be based on the phenomenon, Tragedy of the Commons. This phenomenon occurs when many individuals have unrestricted access to the natural resource. When these individuals start putting their gain over the common good of all users, it eventually leads to the destruction of the resources and ends badly for everyone (Gardner & Stern, 2002).
Let’s discuss fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are common-pool resources, whereby individuals have more or less unrestricted access to it. Wide-scale extraction and burning of fossil fuels started during the Industrial Revolution. The burning of fossil fuels by companies is used to generate electricity for the production of goods. Each company presumably wants to maximise their earnings. The more fossil fuels burned, the more electricity generated, and hence more goods can be produced and sold. However, every fossil fuel burned by a single company reduces the overall supply of fossil fuels available. However, the company knows that the overall supply of fossil fuels is large and the dent it personally makes is very minor. Also, any fossil fuels it forgoes will be burned by other companies either way. Therefore, every company will try to burn as much fossil fuels as possible and as quickly as possible. This results in increased greenhouse gas emissions by the industry sector and hence, rise in sea levels.