Singapore's Climate-Action plans for the next 25 years: Is it enough?

Singapore has submitted her 2nd NDC goal and emission mitigation strategies in the 2nd GreenGov report. Here's what we think:

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The Transmutation Principle Newsletter
April 02, 2025

95% of the countries in the Paris Agreement has yet to submit their updated “nationally determined contributions” also known as the NDCs.

Singapore is one of the 10 countries to have submitted the 2035 NDCs by the 10th Feb 2025 deadline, as participating countries of the Paris Agreement are required to submit ahead of the 30th Conference of Parties (COP30), when Parties of the Paris Agreement will congregate again in November 2025.

In short, the dateline was set for countries to submit their 2035 climate pledges by Feb’25, giving IPCC working groups time to plan ahead and validate each country’s submissions, if pledges are compatible with the 1.5°C global warming limit pathway.

Singapore’s updated NDC goal:

As a small country, Singapore accounts for 0.1% of global carbon emissions, amounting to 58.59 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2022. Here's a timeline of Singapore’s emission targets:

  • 2020: 
    The SG Green Plan announced a target to peak emissions at 65 MtCO2e by 2030.

  • 2022: 
    The target was revised to peak emissions at 60 MtCO2e by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

  • 2024:
    It was revealed that Singapore expects to peak emissions at 64.43 MtCO2e by 2028 before bringing them down.

  • 2025:
    The updated target at present is to reduce emissions to 45–50 MtCO2e by 2035.

Singapore has announced a commitment to reduce country emissions to between 45 and 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2035 as part of our 2035 NDC - a much expedited timeline compared to previous plan to peak emissions at 60 MtCO2e by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

Additionally, the government has put forth a long-term low emissions development strategy (LEDS) that aspires to halve emissions from its peak to 33 MtCO2e by 2050. Read more about Singapore’s mitigation plans in the following official reports:

Stepping up Climate-Action in Singapore: Biennial Transparency Report & GreenGov report.

Prior to submission of Singapore’s 2nd NDC, the NCCS (National Climate Change Secretariat) also published their 1st Biennial Transparency Report in Nov’24, which is required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for every 2 years, starting from 2024.

In tandem, the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment has also released their 2nd GreenGov report also in Nov’24, to check-in on the public sector’s environmental performance and whole-of-government’s progress with the Singapore Green Plan.

Our perspective & summary of the latest GreenGov report:

Singapore’s Emission Disclosures: Understanding our emission trends & where it’s heading

A progress check-in on the public sector’s emission trend & new climate target for the nation.

Read full article

The Singapore GreenGov path to Net-Zero. Singapore's decarbonisation & climate mitigation plan.

A review of Singapore's renewable energy & low-carbon strategies to fulfil the 2035 NDC & Net-Zero by 2050.

Read full article

Climate-Proofing your business:

With the government’s push for a more ambitious emission, it’s evidently clear that with each passing day, there’s an increasing urgency to not only climate-proof our planet from the impact of our human activities, but to also climate-proof our businesses in order to sustain and protect our livelihood.

Climate-proofing is not just about complying but it’s also about reframing sustainability, it’s about finding a better way to operate harmoniously with nature while anticipating regulatory changes & new procurement standards.

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Under GreenGov.SG, we have rolled out green procurement requirements for nine categories of goods and services. We are progressively introducing more environmental sustainability considerations into the Government’s tender evaluation process, starting with large construction and ICT tenders. We will expand this policy to MICE and events, starting in Financial Year 2025.

Grace Fu, at the SG Sustainable Procurement Forum. Source

Join our taster session below as we uncover how businesses can rise above climate & compliance risks in Singapore:

Our new ESG Leadership taster session to learn how to embed

sustainability sustainably as a business model.

Accelerating Climate-Action in Singapore: Earth Month special activities

In our bid to accelerate climate action and to bridge the knowledge gap in Singapore, we also have the following activities lined up to coincide with Earth Month.

Here’s our Earth Month line-up that you wouldn’t want to miss:

Continue reading:

Transmuting ESG leadership in Singapore: Fulfilling Singapore's path to Net-Zero

An overview of how our solutions & services are aligning with Singapore's sustainability targets and how we can help embed sustainability in your businesses.

Read full article