Welcome Address at SG Eco Fund’s Fifth Anniversary Event - Ms Grace Fu

1 Good morning. It is my pleasure to be here to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the SG Eco Fund, together with many of our grant recipients and partners. We thank you for being a part of Singapore’s sustainability journey.

2 This year’s celebration coincides with Singapore’s 60^th year of independence, and it is always good to take stock and reflect. As we look back at the beginning of our sustainability journey, I am reminded of the role that our citizens played. From our first tree-planting campaign in 1963, even before independence, to our inaugural Keep Singapore Clean campaign in 1968, citizens have worked hand in hand with the government to build a cleaner and greener Singapore.

3 After six decades, this has not changed. In the Singapore Green Plan 2030, Green Citizenry is a critical success factor. We knew that undergirded the important basis on which real action is going to take place – by the community on the ground. It is about the collective choices and actions that everyone of us make in our everyday lives.  

4 This was why we launched the SG Eco Fund five years ago, recognising that policies itself are insufficient. We really need ground action and some of the things that we are going to implement, we need acceptance on the ground. We need people to understand why we are doing this.

5 It is therefore important to encourage and support everyone, where you are an individual, part of a school team, part of the town council, companies or organisations. As long as you have the heart and the passion, we are prepared to support and mobilise the ground, and implement sustainable practices across all communities.

Building Awareness Through the SG Eco Fund

6 Since its launch, we have awarded more than $18.6 million in support of over 350 ground-up projects. I saw firsthand how the SG Eco Fund benefitted my community at Yuhua. The Yuhua Agri-tech Solar Living Lab, led by grassroots volunteers, received funding to convert a carpark rooftop into Singapore’s first integrated agritech-solar testbed. This project taught aspiring farmers and Yuhua residents to grow food and optimise solar energy generation at the same time.  

7 The SG Eco Fund has enabled many more similarly impactful initiatives and movements elsewhere. Collectively, more than 700,000 people have been brought together to learn and act on sustainability through educational events, talks and workshops, as well as opportunities to volunteer and co-create solutions with the community.

8 A recent participant survey on the impact of SG Eco Fund has shown that:

• 90% of those surveyed were satisfied with the activities.

• Majority of the participants were more ready to adopt sustainable practices, share the knowledge with family and friends, and work with the community on sustainability projects. 

Projects Growing in Communities

9 This last survey point is an important one, as one of the objectives of the Fund was to catalyse a national movement of sustainable practices amongst our communities. It is therefore very encouraging to see more projects taking root in our communities and growing beyond their initial scope.  

10 An example is Repair Kopitiam, which seeks to counter the throwaway culture. During the pandemic, Danny and his team applied to the Fund to train residents to become handymen to better serve the needs of their neighbours. Today, Repair Clinics and Repair Kampungs have sprouted at more than 10 locations, with 300 coaches and 6,000 volunteers.

11 Similarly, Project Black Gold, a community food scrap composting initiative started by Cuifen, was awarded funding to conduct community composting events. At these events, residents learn how to reduce and recycle food waste. The initiative has now grown to composting clubs at over 30 locations across Singapore. 

Connecting through Platforms

12 Besides individual projects, we also supported initiatives to connect sustainability communities through physical platforms, so that sustainability experts and citizens can interact regularly.

13 This is very important, because we have found in our discussions that sustainability is to really work with upstream-downstream activities. Often, we find recycling requires participation of everyone along the value chain of processes. We often work in silos in certain industry or sectors. Getting people across the different sectors by connecting the movements and resources together, is thus important for us to germinate, as well as to implement some of these movements. We need to bring people together, from time to time, so that ideation and cross fertilisation of ideas can take place.

14 Just like today, Vidacity, a sustainability hub by the SG Eco Fund, brings together various eco startups and communities. Grant recipients like Ferticlay, Terra SG, Soil Social and Semula are able to collaborate and amplify their impact by sharing resources, expertise and opportunities. 

Scaling with Corporate Partnerships

15 I am also heartened to see the private sector pitching in to grow the sustainability movement. For example, CapitaLand has given our grant recipients opportunities to showcase their projects through educational booth exhibitions and workshops.

16 UOB has also partnered the SG Eco Fund to bring together local artists and the sustainability community to create community art murals and sustainability literacy workshops, bringing eye catching sustainability messages to our common spaces.

17 When we think about climate change and sustainability changes, it is about shifting mindset and behaviour. And behavior has to change from the heart. It is also to look beyond technical solutions and processes. It is also about changing the mindsets, moving the hearts, and changing behaviours.

18 Part of it is also about communication – having nice visual arts that can attract the eyeballs, that can help convey important messages, and can move our emotions, are important as part of that sustainability movement. Sustainability has a role for almost everyone, almost every discipline, whether it is finance or technical or even property owners that can offer us spaces, these are all very welcome and essential.

19 I thank our partners for supporting the community in driving the national sustainability movement together, and encourage more to join us.

Conclusion

20 Your voices count in our journey towards sustainability. Over the 5 short years of the SG Eco Fund, in response to your feedback, we have made continuous efforts to make it easier to tap on the Fund, supporting worthy ideas that help our communities go green.

21 The Sprouts category, open for application all year round, is an example of how the Fund has been made more accessible. This year, the SG Eco Fund increased the maximum grant amount for its Sprouts category from $8,000 to $30,000 for projects submitted in 2025.

22 We did this in response to your desire to organise bigger projects, and to reach out to more members of the community. And in part to celebrate the SG60 spirit where each of us can play our part in building Singapore. We already see more proposals being submitted; I would like to encourage more individuals and groups to submit your ideas as well. 

23 I encourage you to share insights and explore new partnerships with everyone who is present today. Your collective creativity and commitment will continue to inspire those around you. Through your projects, Singaporeans can LEARN about sustainability, ACT to create impact through their actions and GROW the sustainability movement through community participation. Thank you all for your passion and dedication to creating a better and greener Singapore. I look forward to meeting you and hearing about we can further support your dreams for a greener, more environmentally sustainable Singapore.

24 Thank you.