President calls for unified environment, climate change law

• Speaking at Sri Lanka Climate Summit says Sri Lanka aims for export-oriented, competitive and green economy towards net zero

President Ranil Wickre-mesinghe last week emphasised ongoing efforts to enact unified legislation addressing environmental protection and climate change. 

He highlighted the Government’s commitment to crafting economic policies geared not only towards fostering export-oriented competitiveness but also towards transitioning to a green economy, aiming to achieve net-zero by 2050. 

Acknowledging the recent prolonged spells of extreme climate conditions as indicative of future climate change impacts, the President stressed the urgency of addressing climate mitigation measures promptly. 

He made these remarks while addressing the inaugural session of the Sri Lanka Climate Summit at the Shangri-La, Colombo.

The inaugural Sri Lankan Climate Change Conference, hosted by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, was under the theme “Climate Action for our Nation and the Planet.” 

During his address, President Wickremesinghe highlighted the nation’s proactive approach to combating climate change. He announced the establishment of a dedicated climate change centre in Sri Lanka and his instructions to the officials to model legislation based on the United Kingdom’s Climate Act, endorsed by global financial institutions. The President emphasised the significance of Sri Lanka’s role in addressing climate change, particularly within the Indian Ocean and the tropical belt and outlined plans for the International Climate Change University to be established in the country.

Addressing the gathering, the President further said:

You have organised this summit, which is a long-felt need for Sri Lanka, for the business community to meet here and to discuss the ways and means of how we could combat climate change. Since I took over as president, I have given top priority to climate change. In fact, I established the Climate Change Centre in my office and appointed an advisor. Until then, our focus has been on the environment. That doesn’t mean that we should take our focus away from the environment, but we must also realise the important role that climate change plays within it. If climate change takes place, as some of you fear, then the environment itself will change for the worse. Therefore, how we can adapt to climate change, how we can combat climate change, is certainly a matter of importance for all of us. I need not say anything more.

You know what it has been like in the last few days, walking around in the city. And this is just a sign of things to come. My task as president has been to restore the economy. In other words, to stabilise the economy. That task is nearing an end and we have to now focus on the next step.

We can’t carry on with this economic model, which certainly hasn’t worked. And we have, as I mentioned many times before, transformed ourselves into an export-oriented economy and a highly competitive economy. For this purpose, the government will be introducing legislation in parliament, which will ensure that all government policies focus on the transformation to a highly competitive export-oriented economy. In fact, the bill will most probably be gazetted next week.

But I am not going to deal at length with the bill, except to say that one of the items in the bill, inn carrying out this transformation, is to ensure that we achieve net-zero by 2050. And I can tell you we will achieve it before that. Sri Lanka can do it.

So in making our policies, which are going to affect all of you, not merely a transformation of an economy into export orientation, but into an economy that is based on achieving net-zero. So that’s how we are going to work this out.

 As it is, the first step is, we are already drafting a new law, which will deal with the environment and climate change. In some countries, we have different acts dealing with laws, but we decided that we will bring it together, one law, which will handle both the environment and climate change.

It retains the Central Environment Authority but will also bring in the Climate Change Centre. In the process of drafting, I’ve asked the officials now, in doing so, let us as far as possible, follow the Climate Change Act of the UK, which I think is a good one and it puts the burden on the government and the minister to act on the advice of the Climate Change Committee and to table the regulations in Parliament. So that is the legislative aspect that we are bringing in.

On that basis, we have to have a green economy. So green financing, and the whole aspect, the commercial and economic aspects become important. That’s where the Chamber of Commerce has an important role to play. We will promote the green economy. We will give priority to promoting a green economy. We might as well be the first in the region to do so. We are small enough to do that. And, our development, I hope, all of you will focus on seeing how we can succeed in becoming a green economy.

So part of this will also, again, will depend on how we structure our new financial instruments. One reason for following the Climate Change Act of the UK is that it has been well accepted by the financial circle. So we will ensure that our green financing, the different options available, are certainly based on the same practices as the UK. The rest is how do we get these instruments together? What do we do?

Well, that’s why I think the Chamber of Commerce, the Stock Exchange, our investment ministry all should come together. So that’s one area that will have to be developed once we announce the details of our policy on climate change. I would want it to cover every sector of the economy.

Renewable energy

We might as well start from the beginning. We need not be looking at different sectors and sequencing it. We are small enough, and where we are, we can start on all sectors together. But what, has engaged our attention is the energy sector. I remember when we started the accelerated Mahawali scheme as a member of the Cabinet at that time, was to ensure that we had a majority of hydroelectricity potential. So we built all these reservoirs just within a space of 10 years.

But since then, as development came, we had to also bring in the fossil fuels. Now we have brought the fossil fuels, we brought the mini hydros, and what’s the next stage? Are we going to stay on with fossil fuels, or move on? Now Sri Lanka certainly has potential for renewable energy. If you look at our solar capacity, and our capacity for wind power, we are looking at something like in the region of 30 to 50 gigawatts.

One of the things that depends on determining the wind power now is the inquiry we are carrying out about how birds will be affected in the Mannar district. I have seen the CEB plant, and I have seen how it operates, and it’s automatic, so it switches off when a bird comes near. But nevertheless, let’s exhaust that, it will take a bit of time, but I said let’s get through this, and be sure that we avoid any harm to wildlife in the process. But we certainly have this potential.

It’s not merely on land, not only offshore, but on the high seas. It will start from about Puttalam and go all the way to Mulaitivu, and again, as far as wind power is concerned in Hambantota. That’s the wind power potential. Solar is anywhere. And in addition to land, the ancient kings left us with reservoirs, which we now find also becoming useful for floating solar.

The interest in solar is just starting. We have a long way to go, but the vision statement I made with Prime Minister Modi included Sri Lanka selling energy to India. So we have now agreed to have the connectivity. We’re also now working on another project near Poonakary or Pooneryn, to utilise the Poonakary reservoir. And that includes building the largest battery storage facility in Asia. So we are also now working on battery storage. There’s much more potential that is coming to place.

But we want to make the best use of the renewable energy sources that we have. Some people have spoken about the biomass, but most of the reports that I’ve received so far doesn’t indicate that biomass has such a good future in Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, let’s get our energy worked out.

Based on energy, we can do many changes. If there’s green hydrogen, since we are developing the Trincomalee port, we have the, the Colombo port, and we have the Hambantota port, then we become more attractive as a regional logistics centre. So this is some part of the thinking that is going on as far as the economy is concerned. The rest of where we start, what we do, is left to the Chamber of Commerce and the other institutions and the smaller chambers outside there. So now it’s up to you to make use of the potential that we have in Sri Lanka.