Singapore to phase out bottled water at meetings, cut on air conditioning

Singapore: In a bid to tone down the negative impact on environment, the Government of Singapore is phasing out bottled water at meetings and keeping indoor temperature at 25 degrees Celsius in government buildings.

These greening efforts were detailed in the GreenGov.SG report, the government's first sustainability report card, was published by the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) on Friday.

While public sector emissions have fallen, infrastructure construction means emissions are likely to trend upward for the next two years, according to a report by Channel News Asia on Friday.

The public sector emitted 3.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in the financial year 2022. This was 5.3 per cent lower than in the baseline year of FY2020.

The closure of the Tuas Incineration Plant in early 2022 was the main reason for lower emissions. This outweighed higher electricity use and associated emissions by the public sector after the post-pandemic reopening of the economy.

The government expects emissions to rise and peak around 2025 as more public infrastructure projects are completed. These include eight new polyclinics by 2030 as well as the Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line.

Emissions are then expected to reduce and stay on track with the public sector goal of reaching net zero around 2045.

The public sector target is timed ahead of Singapore's national commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Making public sector buildings more energy efficient is a key priority for the government.

To this end, government agencies have started reducing the number of lifts operating at non-peak hours and also installed more energy-efficient lighting and air-conditioners.

The GreenGov.SG report also lays out the other key decarbonisation plans in the public sector: Transition to 100 per cent cleaner energy cars by 2035, transition to 100 per cent cleaner energy public buses by 2040, with electric buses to make up half the fleet by 2030, deploy at least 1.5 gigawatt-peak of solar energy by 2030, include sustainability considerations in all government procurement by 2028.

MSE added that residual emissions from essential public services, such as incinerating waste and treating wastewater, cannot be avoided immediately.

The public sector is developing solutions like carbon capture, utilisation and storage technology to address this.

Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said the GreenGov.SG report signifies the government's commitment to be part of the country's climate agenda.

"Like the private sector and the wider community, we are learning as we embark on our sustainability journey," the Channel quoted the Minister as saying, as she encouraged individuals, businesses, civil society and community groups to join the endeavour.

The government's first chief sustainability officer Lim Tuang Liang also said that transparency through reporting will spur public sector agencies to minimise their environmental impact.

"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," he said.

Public sector assets covered in the GreenGov.SG report includes office buildings, healthcare facilities, schools, public utility installations, public transport infrastructure and vehicles.

Officials looked at Scope 1 emissions, which are direct emissions from burning fossil fuels on-site, and Scope 2 emissions, which are indirect emissions from using purchased electricity.