SMU School of Social Sciences Professor of Public Policy Ann Florini was a panellist on Channel NewsAsia’s Perspectives programme (filmed at SMU Labs), with SMU as the exclusive higher education partner. The esteemed panel of four experts tackled the topic Climate Change and the Global Economy and discussed various factors that can propel radical global action to stave off environmental catastrophe and an economic meltdown. With 175 countries signing the Paris Agreement on Earth Day last month, the panellists are confident that the deal will see greater and more lasting momentum than previous pacts on climate change. Nonetheless, they believe more can be done to get businesses to take climate change seriously. Prof Florini said governments were not setting the right regulatory standards to incentivise businesses to be more sustainable. “Governments have to change the nature of financial regulation such that finance ends up going into things that are sustainable versus things that are not sustainable,” she said.