Box Story: The Singapore Green Plan 2030

Background

Climate change is a global challenge, and Singapore has been taking a proactive approach towards building a resilient and sustainable future. The Singapore Green Plan 2030 was developed as a whole-of-nation movement that advances Singapore’s national agenda on sustainable development. Launched in February 2021, the plan charts ambitious targets, with concrete timelines, on a 10-year road map. The aim is to strengthen Singapore’s commitments under the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement, and to position the city-state to achieve long-term net-zero emissions aspirations by 2050.

Approach and Key Pillars

Initiatives of the Green Plan are collectively spearheaded by five ministries—the Ministry of Education, MND, Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE), Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), and Ministry of Transport (MOT). Collaboration between the various government agencies contributed to the development of five key pillars and two enablers spanning across all aspects of life.

The five key pillars are:

City in Nature: Conserve and extend Singapore’s natural capital island-wide, to ensure a green, liveable and sustainable home

Sustainable living: Improve the cleanliness of the environment, as well as conserve resources and energy as a way of life in Singapore

Green economy: Support the green transformation of businesses and industries, harness environmental sustainability as a competitive advantage, and create new green opportunities and jobs

Energy reset: Transit to cleaner energy and increase energy efficiency to lower Singapore’s carbon footprint

Resilient Future: Adapt and protect Singapore and Singaporeans against the impact of climate change

The two enablers are:

Green government: Promote and enhance environmentally sustainable and climate resilient practices in the public sector

Green citizenry: Support and encourage individuals, households, and community groups to co-create and co-deliver solutions for environmental sustainability and climate resilience

Strategies for Implementation

Due to the scale of ambitions in the Green Plan, the government has also put in place certain measures to facilitate this transition:

Cost and education: Implementing sustainable initiatives often requires significant investment and expertise. Hence, funds have been made available for stakeholders through various schemes. For instance, businesses can tap on the Water Efficiency Fund to finance water conservation initiatives as well as the Enterprise Sustainability Programme to build up their sustainability capabilities.

Regulatory and policy frameworks: Developing and implementing effective regulatory and policy frameworks to support sustainable practices and technologies while balancing economic considerations can be complex, and requires careful planning and stakeholder engagement. In 2019, Singapore introduced a carbon tax to put a price on the externality or social cost of carbon. To support emissions-intensive trade-exposed companies that may require more time to make the switch to greener alternatives, a transition framework was also introduced to provide allowances.

Data and monitoring: Establishing robust mechanisms for data collection, monitoring and reporting is essential for tracking progress and impact. However, ensuring the availability of accurate and timely data can be a challenge. In 2024, the Gprnt.ai platform was set up to automate and improve the ease of environmental, social and corporate governance reporting for firms.

Public awareness and participation: Garnering public buy-in is crucial, but it can be difficult to effect changes in deeply entrenched lifestyle habits. Policies such as the disposable carrier bag charge are in place to nudge consumers towards making more sustainable choices.

As a whole-of-nation movement, the key challenge for effective implementation lies in building consensus and collaboration among diverse stakeholders. For example, the OneMillionTrees movement is one of the major efforts to foster a City in Nature. With an ambitious goal to plant one million trees over a ten-year period, this is a nationwide effort that harnesses the community to not only physically plant trees but also maintain them. Through the programme, members of the public also participate in outreach and education efforts.

Tree planting efforts by Farrer Park Hospital staff (Ekyl.16 (CC BY-SA 4.0) / Wikimedia Commons)

Existing infrastructure and land areas also need to be developed to meet technical requirements for the implementation of the Green Plan. For instance, while solar power is a promising form of renewable energy for Singapore, it can be intermittent depending on localised weather conditions. To mitigate this, government agencies have collaborated with key players in the private sector to develop and launch an Energy Storage System (ESS). The ESS will help to maintain the power grid’s reliability by storing excess energy generated by solar panels during periods of high sunlight and making it available for use in times of low sunlight or high energy demand. The collaboration between public and private sectors helped to accelerate the implementation of this technology. Today, Jurong Island houses the largest ESS in Southeast Asia, which was deployed and commissioned within a record time of six months.

SolarLand at Jurong Island utilises vacant land to generate clean energy (JTC)