Nearly a third of the global financial centre of Singapore sits less than 5m above sea level. If global warming continues unabated, an area as large as 3,400 football fields in the centre of the small city-state could be inundated by 2100, flooding the vital business district and some of its most valuable infrastructure.

Many coastal cities share a sinking feeling nowadays, but Singapore's example stands out for a couple of reasons. First, the island is choosing fight over flight. Second, the fiscally conservative nation is asking current taxpayers to share the cost of an expensive battle, even though the worst of the threat will materialise only if Antarctica and Greenland lose their ice in the second half of the century.