Global Cooling Pledge Ministerial Roundtable - Ms Grace Fu

Singapore is pleased to join fellow signatories in reaffirming our strong commitment to the Global Cooling Pledge. We commend the leadership of the COP30 and COP28 Presidencies, and UNEP’s Cool Coalition Secretariat, for advancing this vital agenda, including the formal adoption of the Intergovernmental Committee on Cooling (IGCC), and publication of the 2025 Global Cooling Watch Report.

Singapore also supports the adoption of the Belém Communiqué on Extreme Heat, which renews our shared commitment to protect those most affected.

Singapore has made progress on our targets under the Global Cooling Pledge and Beat the Heat.

• Heat Action Plans – We have put in place a science-based and proactive heat resilience strategy. Using modelling and simulation, we map local heat risks and assess the effectiveness of various cooling solutions to guide our heat resilience plans.

• Passive Cooling – As part of Singapore’s Green Plan 2030, we target to have (i) 200 hectares of skyrise greenery, (ii) at least 170,000 more trees in industrial areas, and (iii) every household within a 10-minute walk from a park. New developments are required to compensate for greenery lost to construction. We are deploying cool coatings to all public housing estates by 2030, and optimise shade and wind flow through urban planning guidelines.

• Public Procurement – As part of our GreenGov.SG plan, we require all public sector buildings undergoing major retrofitting to achieve at least a 60% energy efficiency improvement. All new buildings funded by the Government will have to meet platinum standard.

• Protecting the Vulnerable – We have developed heat stress guidelines for sectors such as outdoor workers, and are studying the impacts of heat on human health, in particular the high risk, vulnerable groups.

There is still much to be done. The Beat the Heat Implementation Drive affirms the need to accelerate, and Singapore is glad to be part of it. We welcome the operationalisation of EPIC as a one-stop implementation platform. We stand ready to share our experience in improving energy efficiency for buildings and cooling equipment, driving energy-efficient cooling solutions, and advancing the phase-down of HFCs.

To contribute to the advancement of the Global Cooling Pledge and Beat the Heat, Singapore will host the Global Cooling Pledge Focal Points meeting, as well as share our expertise in urban heat assessments and simulation of cooling solutions through a digital model we developed jointly with ETH-Zurich known as the Digital Urban Climate Twin (DUCT).

We will support capacity-building for cities by organising training workshops in areas such as passive and nature-based cooling and energy efficiency standards for cooling technologies.

We invite countries and cities to participate, and look forward to forging new partnerships and collaborations that will bring us closer to our shared goals.

Thank you.