Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment releases inaugural GreenGov.SG report

Singapore, 15 December 2023 – The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) has published the inaugural GreenGov.SG report, which details the emissions profile and resource footprint of the public sector for Financial Year (FY) 2022, which runs from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. The launch of the report was announced by Senior Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment Mr Baey Yam Keng at the “Charting towards Net-Zero in the Public Sector” event at Singapore Polytechnic today.

2 The GreenGov.SG report provides a snapshot of the public sector’s latest performance on greenhouse gas emissions, energy, and water use. It covers the public sector’s assets in Singapore, including office buildings, healthcare facilities, schools, public utilities installations, public transport infrastructure, and vehicles. The report also sets out the public sector’s key strategies and initiatives to enhance environmental sustainability.

3 The report excludes performance data for waste. More time is needed to improve the public sector’s data collection processes for waste, as waste disposal is not metered, unlike electricity and water use. In addition, waste tends to be co-mingled at bin centres, making it more challenging to attribute the waste disposed to specific agencies in cases where agencies are co-located.

4 Formerly known as the ‘Public Sector Taking the Lead in Environmental Sustainability’ (PSTLES) initiative, GreenGov.SG was introduced in 2021 as a key enabler of the Singapore Green Plan 2030. Under GreenGov.SG, the public sector has committed to achieving net zero emissions around 2045, five years ahead of Singapore’s national target of net zero by 2050, reducing energy and water use by 10% and waste disposed of by 30% respectively in 2030. The public sector has put in measures to green our buildings and vehicle fleets, reduce waste, and increase solar energy adoption. These will lead to improvements in performance data in the coming years.

Report Findings

5 In FY2022, the public sector emitted 3.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is about 5.3 per cent lower than the FY2020 baseline. This decrease was mainly due to the decommissioning of the Tuas Incineration Plant in early 2022. The reduction in Scope 1 emissions from this facility outweighed the increase in electricity use and the associated Scope 2 emissions across the public sector due to the post-COVID-19 re-opening of the economy.

6 Overall, public sector emissions are expected to rise and peak around 2025, as more public infrastructure projects, including transportation, healthcare, waste management and water treatment facilities, are completed. As more of the envisaged emission reduction strategies get implemented, long term emissions are expected to reduce and trend towards net zero emissions around 2045.

7 Commenting on the inaugural report, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Ms Grace Fu said, “Singapore is among the earliest governments in the world to publish a report of the public sector’s environmental sustainability performance. This signifies our serious commitment for the Government to be part of our action climate agenda and deliver on our GreenGov initiatives. Like the private sector and the wider community, we are learning as we embark on our sustainability journey. We encourage everyone, individuals, businesses, NGOs and community groups to join us as we drive environmental sustainability and build a greener and more sustainable future for Singapore.”

8 Government Chief Sustainability Officer, who oversees the GreenGov.SG movement, Mr Lim Tuang Liang, said, “The public sector believes that transparency through reporting will spur agencies to continuously strive to minimise the environmental impact of their operations. By sharing examples of our sustainability initiatives, we also hope that others can undertake similar efforts, and also provide new ideas that the public sector can learn from.”

Reduce, replace, remove

9 Among the initiatives detailed within the report are how the public sector will reduce energy use, including by focusing on energy-efficient infrastructure and deploying alternative low-carbon energy sources. Notable goals include transitioning to 100% cleaner energy cars by 2035 and installing at least 1.5 GWp of solar energy by 2030. This effort will support the national target to deploy at least 2 GWp of solar energy that same year.

10 Initiatives to reduce water consumption will involve improving water efficiency in building designs and fittings, as well as using non-potable water in manufacturing process, cooling towers, and sanitation.

11 The report also recognises that residual emissions from essential public services, such as waste incineration and used water treatment, cannot be avoided immediately. To address these residual emissions, the public sector is exploring innovative solutions such as carbon capture, utilisation, and storage technology.

12 To complement the GreenGov.SG report, Statutory Boards will also publish annual environmental sustainability disclosures, starting in FY2024. These disclosures will provide greater detail on how Statutory Boards are doing their part to advance environmental sustainability.

13 The full FY2022 GreenGov.SG report is available on www.go.gov.sg/greengovsg-fy2022.