SAVING GLACIERS ALLIANCE

The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.

– Sir Robert Swan

Vision
To raise awareness of the importance of conserving the world’s polar regions and glaciers.
Mission

To heighten attention to the climate challenges facing the polar regions and the resulting damages caused to the local biodiversity and rising sea levels threatening other parts of the world.

To bring together Singapore-based leaders, youths and organisations to take responsibility and action towards sustainable policy development, business practices and innovation towards a low-carbon and zero plastic waste economy.

Objectives and Action

[1] To engage and empower businesses and the larger community to pay urgent attention to responsible practices and action that will help conserve the polar regions.

[2] To set up a pledge platform to support Climateforce 2041 causes via digital.metafusion.com.sg/websites/2023/cdl

[3] To form a key group of partners amongst our key stakeholders along the built environment value chain, including contractors, consultants, suppliers, agents etc.

[4] To organise outreach and engagement events to raise awareness about the importance of conserving the polar regions.

Melting ice sheets in the polar regions will lead to rising global seal levels, displacing hundreds of millions of people around the world. Although Southeast Asia is around 11,000 km away from the Arctic and 9,000 km from Antarctica, it will be the region most impacted by rising sea levels if carbon emissions remain at business-as-usual levels. This is partly due to the gravitational attraction to existing ice sheets – water is attracted to the huge mass of ice in the Arctic and Antarctic, so if the ice sheets lose its mass, water will be repelled away from them and maximum change in sea level rise will be felt greatly in the tropics. Furthermore, some areas in the Northern Hemisphere that were submerged by layers of ice during the ice age are still rising after the glacial retreat, meaning that Southeast Asia bears the full weight of above-average sea level rise.

To highlight the importance of conserving the world’s polar regions and glaciers, CDL launched the “Saving Glaciers Alliance”. The insightful event called upon local business communities and the public to support climate action. At its launch on 10 October 2019, CDL hosted an exclusive conversation with Sir Robert Swan, renowned explorer and conservationist, who is the first man to walk unaided to both the North and South poles. The event was attended by high-level representatives, such as ambassadors of Sweden, Finland, EU and Norway, and diplomats from the British High Commission and the Danish Embassy.

At the end of the launch, CDL Group CEO and Executive Director Mr Sherman Kwek presented the “Saving Glaciers Alliance” flag to Sir Robert, which Sir Robert proudly waved on his expedition in Antarctica. To hear Sir Robert give us a shoutout whilst in action, please click here.

CDL Group CEO and Executive Director Mr Sherman Kwek presenting the “Saving Glaciers Alliance” flag to Sir Robert Swan (centre, holding flag). They are pictured with environmental champions and diplomats, including: Ambassador of Finland H.E. Antti Tapani Vanska (right of Sir Swan), Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission at Embassy of Sweden Helena Reitberger (right of H.E. Vanksa) , EU Ambassador H.E. Barbara Plinkert (left of Mr Kwek), Ambassador of Norway H.E. Anita Nergaard (far right).

The event was well-attended and covered extensively by numerous eco-champions and media outlets. For an informative video on the launch created by one of the youth groups, please click here.

For more information on Sir Robert Swan, check out his page here.

Images sent to CDL from Sir Robert Swan and his #Last300 team in Antarctica over Christmas 2019.

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