Singapore Green Plan 2030: reflection on the last five years and predictions for the next five

The Green Plan focuses on five key areas:

i) Expanding urban greenery to curb heat.

ii) Using cleaner energy sources across all sectors.

iii) Requiring businesses to reduce emissions and decarbonize.

iv) Strengthening food and environmental security.

v) Increasing recycling to become a zero-waste nation.

We set out below reflections on the key achievements over the past five years, and look forward to the next five.

Approach to implementing change

Sitting behind every area of the Green Plan is the need to drive social change: the need for individuals and businesses to adapt the way they operate and do business.

The Singapore government’s approach to implementing social changes involves several levers used simultaneously: incentives such as tax deductions to encourage the adoption of the desired conduct; assistance such as grants to help reduce the costs of moving to new systems and ways of working; the development of a pool of workers and experts so that the right people are in place to enable the transition, equipped with the skills needed to operate in new environments; and mandatory legislation and regulation where other approaches either have not worked or would not work (at least, not in isolation), or where there would otherwise be a market failure.

By and large, strict legislation in this space is typically a last resort, with softer-touch approaches preferred. Stakeholders (often including government-linked companies) that are in a better position in terms of financial and organizational capacity will usually be encouraged to adopt the changes themselves. Using practical lessons derived from the experiences of first movers, any draft regulations will then be adapted. This iterative process, consisting of dialogue between industry and regulators/legislators, ensures that there is a balance between achieving policy goals and not overburdening private industry with unnecessary costs and requirements.

At the moment, there is little in the way of formal legislation and regulation to address climate change, and much of the existing regulatory framework is at the soft regulation stage. 

Despite these challenges, Singapore has established a broad suite of incentives and grants under the Green Plan —spanning recycling, energy efficiency, and green shipping. Examples include the 3R Fund (supporting waste reduction and recycling initiatives), the Energy Efficiency Fund (helping businesses improve energy performance), and the Maritime Singapore Green Initiative (reducing the environmental impact of shipping).

We set out below our reflections on what has been achieved in practice and the key areas where government attention is likely to focus going forward.

Past five years

Singapore has issued substantial quantities of debt to finance the building of new infrastructure required by the Green Plan. The government passed the Significant Infrastructure Government Loan Act (SINGA) and has collectively issued SGD20.5 billion Green Singapore Government Savings (Infrastructure) Bonds—aimed at financing major, long-term green infrastructure projects. The Green Plan contemplates issuance of up to SGD35bn of public sector green bonds by 2030.

Projects commenced or completed during this period include:

• Sembcorp Tengeh Floating Solar Farm (2021): Singapore’s first inland floating solar farm, capable of powering the nation’s five water treatment plants and enabling a 100% green waterworks system. With a peak capacity of 60 megawatt-peak, it avoids approximately 32,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually.
• Jurong Island Energy Storage System (2023): A 285 megawatt-hour energy storage system, the largest in Southeast Asia, commissioned in just six months.
• Expansion of Singapore’s electric rail network: The Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line are together expected to avoid an estimated 100,000–120,000 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions each year.

Next five years

Key targets to be achieved by 2030 include:

• deploying at least two gigawatt-peak of solar energy capacity.
• ceasing new diesel car and taxi registrations from 2025; requiring all new car and taxi registrations to be cleaner energy models from 2030; and installing 60,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging points by 2030, in step with EV adoption.
• ensuring that at least 80% of buildings by gross floor area are “green”, that 80% of new developments by gross floor area meet Super Low Energy standards, and that best-in-class green buildings achieve an 80% improvement in energy efficiency.
• reducing domestic aviation emissions from airport operations by 20% from 2019 levels (404 ktCO₂).

Recognizing Singapore’s limited natural resources, a key area for future development is low-carbon hydrogen as a decarbonization pathway, given its potential applications in aviation and maritime shipping—both critical to Singapore’s role as a transport hub.

To that end, the government intends to invest in R&D to address key technological bottlenecks and to pursue international collaborations to establish supply chains for low-carbon hydrogen.

These initiatives not only set out the government’s approach, but also create opportunities for private industry to partner with the public sector in implementing the changes required for the climate transition.