How does the government plan to achieve a green economy?

The government seeks to develop new low-carbon solutions and decarbonise industries.

The government is aiming to develop new low-carbon solutions and decarbonise the energy sector to improve new opportunities in the green economy, Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong said.

In his speech at the Joint Segment on the Singapore Green Plan Committee of Supply Debate 2022, Gan highlighted the need to decarbonise the market’s energy sector for greening the country’s economy. 

To do this, Gan said the government made efforts to enhance the energy efficiency of power generation plants through finding ways in speeding up solar deployment. Currently, Gan said the government is on track to achieving a solar deployment target of at least two gigawatt-peak by 2030, which is equivalent to powering 350,000 households per year. Solar installed capacity in Singapore also grew by over nine times to around 560 megawatt-peak in the third quarter of 2021.

In a bid to further expand solar deployment in Singapore, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) is seeking “to integrate energy storage systems into the grid, to overcome the intermittency of solar energy, and manage the stability and resilience of our energy grid.”

Aside from solar deployment, Gan said the EMA and Ministry of Trade and Industry also made plans to import about four gigawatt of electricity by 2035, which will compose about one-third of Singapore’s electricity supply. In the interim, the government will conduct small-scale 100 megawatt trials which will make way for larger-scale sustainable electricity import projects.

In addition, the government is looking into driving new areas of growth in the green economy such as green financing, which will improve as firms find financing platforms to support sustainability investments, and develop Singapore’s carbon services and carbon markets. 

Another opportunity is sustainable tourism where the government will launch a hotel sustainability roadmap, which will urge hotels to adopt sustainable operations. 

Also under the government's strategy is to develop new low carbon solutions to sharpen Singapore’s competitive advantage in the green transition. The government awarded $55m to pursue research and development in low-carbon technologies such as hydrogen. 

The government is also taking steps to create carbon capture, utilisation and storage pathways, which could be deployed to capture greenhouse gas emissions and keep them out of the atmosphere. It is also seeking to establish a robust verification system to make sure there is a proper accounting of the carbon captured.

Amongst the government's strategy is also to deepen workforce capabilities where it plans to include the Career Conversion Programme for Clean and Renewable Energy Professionals by Workforce Singapore, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s putting up centres of excellence for training and research in green financing.

Gan said the government will continue to create new programmes that will evolve the needs of green transition and will benefit workers from the emerging green economy and low-carbon power sector.