27th Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards - Ms Grace Fu

1. Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to join you at the 27th Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards. Today, we celebrate organisations that are not only doing well, but doing right — organisations that understand that environmental stewardship is now central to long-term success.

The Climate Challenge is Here

2. What makes a great company? It is the ability to look beyond the immediate pressures of today, read the trends that are shaping tomorrow, and set a clear north star for the future. Great companies do not wait for change to overtake them. They anticipate change, prepare for it, and turn disruption into opportunity.

3. Climate change is one of the defining trends of our time. Global warming is increasing climate risks — from rising temperatures and sea levels, to more intense rainfall, floods and longer dry spells. These risks affect lives and livelihoods. They disrupt supply chains, raise operating costs, threaten infrastructure, and test the resilience of communities and businesses.

4. The global transition is uneven. Clean energy investments are rising, but adaptation finance is not keeping pace with needs. UNEP estimates that adaptation finance needs in developing countries could exceed US$310 billion a year by 2035, while international public adaptation finance stood at only US$26 billion in 2023. This gap means that many countries are short of the resources needed to protect their people and economies.

5. Singapore cannot be a passive bystander. We are a small, highly urbanised and low-lying island state. Our economy is open and deeply connected to the region and the world. Climate shocks elsewhere can quickly affect our food, water, energy and supply chains. Our vision is therefore clear: a sustainable Singapore that continues to offer good economic opportunities, protect our environment, and safeguard the well-being of our people. But we must be honest that these goals do not always move in perfect alignment. There will be trade-offs to manage — between cost and resilience - from just in time to just in case; growth and resource use - how much do we need today? How much do we keep for tomorrow?; speed and social acceptance - do we go fast ahead and leave some behind, or do we wait for the last person. These are all trade-offs that we will face as a country, as industry, as company, as an organisation, as a community. The task is not to avoid hard choices, but to make them deliberately, transparently and with the long-term interest of Singaporeans at heart.

Building Singapore’s National Adaptation Plan

6. This is why we are developing Singapore’s first National Adaptation Plan — our long-term living strategy to protect Singapore and Singaporeans from the impacts of climate change. The Plan will give us a clearer view of the risks ahead, and sufficient time and resources to search for technologies and solutions, plan carefully, and implement effectively. When we act early and steadily, we give ourselves the best chance of achieving the optimal outcome.

The Role of Businesses in our Sustainability Journey

7. Businesses have an important role in this national effort. The companies that will thrive are those that understand climate risk as a business risk, and sustainability as a business opportunity. They will also have to navigate real trade-offs — between near-term costs and long-term competitiveness, between productivity and environmental impact, and between business transformation and the needs of workers and consumers and customers. The best companies will not treat these as incompatible agendas. They will build resilience into their operations, invest in greener and more efficient solutions, and work with partners across their value chains to reduce risk, create new value, and bring stakeholders along.

8. Indeed business decisions matter in climate action. To guide businesses towards wider adoption of ecolabel products and services, SEC recently revised its Eco Food and Beverage Label, reflecting the Council's continued efforts to keep its standards relevant. When businesses choose products and services that carry credible ecolabel certifications, it sends a clear market signal that sustainability matters, and helps build the demand that incentivises suppliers across the board to raise their environmental standards.

Recognising This Year's Award Recipients

9. This year’s award recipients show what foresight and commitment look like in practice. They have set clear goals, taken practical steps, measured their progress, and brought others along. They remind us that sustainability is not a slogan. It is a discipline. It is a way of planning, operating and leading for the long run.

10. To this year’s award recipients, my heartfelt congratulations. Your achievements show that leadership is not only about responding to the present, but preparing for the future. I encourage you to keep raising the bar, share your experience generously, and inspire more organisations to make sustainability part of their core strategy.

11. Let us hold fast to our north star: a Singapore that is economically vibrant, environmentally responsible, and socially resilient. Let us start early, plan well, and act together — so that future generations inherit not just a successful Singapore, but a sustainable one. Thank you and congratulations.