With $100-bn, Singapore is planning for the worst of climate change

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has called climate change a matter of 'life and death,' an existential threat to the country as important as national defense

Singapore has a reputation for planning ahead. When it comes to climate change, it’s planning for the worst.

While governments around the world are struggling to meet the goals of the Paris agreement — keeping the global temperature increase to about 1.5 degrees Celsius and the rise in sea levels to less than 0.5 meters — Singapore is devising a S$100 billion ($72 billion) plan to safeguard the city against temperatures and floodwaters several times those levels.

Analysis by the Meteorological Service Singapore’s Centre for Climate Research Singapore suggests that in a worst case scenario, floods could rise by almost 4 meters,