INTRODUCTION

Singapore has made significant strides in improving its environment and becoming a green
city. The city-state has implemented various strategies and initiatives to promote sustainability
and reduce its carbon footprint. One of the key initiatives is the Singapore Green Plan 2030, a
whole-nation movement to advance the country's national agenda on sustainable development.
The plan charts ambitious and concrete targets over the next 10 years, strengthening the
country's commitments under the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Paris
Agreement, and positioning the island state to reach its long-term net-zero emissions goals.
The Green Plan 2030 includes several targets, such as greening 80 per cent of buildings (by
gross floor area) by 2030, encouraging more new developments to achieve super low energy
(SLE) standards, and supporting the development, test-bedding and deployment of green
technologies and solutions for buildings.
Singapore is also focusing on sustainable urban development by implementing green buildings
and infrastructure. The city-state is working to green at least 80% of its buildings by 2030,
using techniques such as rooftop gardens and green walls. The Changi Airport, an eight-time
winner of the World’s Best Airport Title, is an example of a green construction in Singapore.
In addition, Singapore is promoting a circular economy by recycling waste that can become
civil construction materials, reducing the amount of waste destined for landfills by 30% by
2030.
The city-state is also investing in research, development, and innovation to solve social and
environmental issues, such as gas emissions and contaminated rivers. Furthermore, Singapore
is addressing water scarcity by implementing a wastewater recycling system, which allows
nearly 40% of the water to be completely reused by its inhabitants. The city-state is also
promoting sustainable transportation by raising trips on mass public transport and expanding
its cycling network, becoming one of the most carbon-efficient countries in the world.

Public Transports and Traffic Regulations

When talking about the sustainability of urban areas, an efficient, affordable, and modern
public transport system is of the utmost importance. Even though Singapore’s network has a
margin for improvement, the city has been praised for its efforts to push for electric vehicles
and the use of data in transportation planning, all strategies that have contributed to an overall
very sustainable urban transportation system – from the customer satisfaction and the
innovation to the financial and internal management – as a 2011 study by Rahman and Chin
has shown in Fig. Despite its high population density and the significant land constraints, in
the last few years the government has focused on implementing policies that were successful
in reducing private vehicles’ dependency, ensuring a smooth traffic flow, and maintaining an
overall affordable transport network. For these reasons, Singapore’s urban transport is
considered a ‘global landmark.’ Its ability to constantly adapt to the growing population has
been leading the way for other rapidly developing Asian cities to develop their own sustainable
transport system.

Green Areas
In early 2021, the Government of Singapore announced the audacious plan of building the
avant-garde eco-smart city of Tengah, the western region of the island, which will be home to
five residential districts and a total of 42,000 houses spread out over 700 hectares of land. The
city will have several sustainable features such as an automated trash collection system
ensuring a cleaner environment as well as pedestrian-friendly zones and underground roads.
This ambitious project will resemble a proper ‘forest town’ characterised by huge green areas
such as public gardens and a nature reserve.
Despite the relatively small population, per-capita emissions in Singapore are relatively high,
with greenhouse gases coming mainly from the elevated use of air conditioning, one of the
main sources of energy consumption given the tropical temperatures affecting the city all year
round. To tackle this issue, urban planners are implementing a centralised cooling system to
regulate the temperature in households, which they see as a more energy-efficient alternative
to individual air-conditioning units. This ‘forest town’ plans to add nature to an urban area that
already features several parks, vegetation, vertical gardens, and green spaces in both indoor
and outdoor spaces. Indeed, according to the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), in 2020
nearly 47% of Singapore’s land was covered in green space, making it a true ‘garden city’.

Technology and Digitalisation

With the introduction of the Smart Nation program in late 2014, Singapore started a nationwide
digital revolution and quickly became the leader of the digitalisation wave taking place across
Southeast Asia (see Figure 2). The programme introduced a series of innovations across
different sectors such as Strategic National Projects, Urban Living, Transport, Health,
Government Services, and Businesses. Some concrete examples of how the program was
implemented are the introduction of a National Digital Identity and of services to facilitate
contactless and e-payments, the completion of smart homes relying on environmental-friendly
energy sources, as well as green interventions in urban mobility, such as the launch of trials of
autonomous buses and shuttles.

Contactless payments have been widely used in the last years but have gained even more
popularity among Singaporeans during the COVID-19 pandemic as a safer way to pay. During
the last months, Singapore turned into a global market leader in cashless payments, which saw
an increase of 12% between 2019 and 2020, as well as an overwhelming number of people –
84% of the city’s residents and 92% among Generation Y – responding positively to this mode
of payment. These data are proof that Singapore could turn into one of the first totally cashless
societies sooner than expected.
Another sector that has seen a surge in digital services is the healthcare industry. While Western
countries are far from it, nowadays digital health is considered the norm in China and the trend
is spreading rapidly across other Asian countries. Thanks in part to the pandemic, offers for on-
demand medical consultations have increased sharply in Singapore over the last months.
Digitising healthcare has several benefits, such as improving the operational efficiency of
healthcare providers, reducing administrative costs, and waiting times, and, as more and more
studies are finding, even allowing better and ongoing monitoring of patients through, for
example, the use of wearable Internet of Things (IOT) devices.
Even though the digitalisation and technological advancement of some of the sectors
mentioned above may not seem strongly related to sustainability as, for example, interventions
in the transportation industry, decreasing the circulation of physical money through cashless
payment systems, or of people through digital healthcare, can have a significant impact on CO2
emissions and waste production.
According to data by US healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente, replacing the average
outpatient paper-based record with a digital version or physical visits by video consultations
would drastically reduce the generation of greenhouse gases, saving approximately 1.7 million
tons of carbon emissions.

Buildings + Vegetation
Singapore’s population of more than five million people live in an area less than 700 square
kilometres. It is a small island with fewer land resources to meet the requirements of both the
city and the country. Creating green spaces for its high population density was a challenge for
the country. Their plan of creating green spaces even with the increasing population is
by integrating architecture with vegetation and adopt a high-density development.
Singapore adopted the idea of biophilic design which enhances people’s connectivity with the
natural environment through combining architectural designs with greenery. This greening
measure was successful for a sustainable development strategy in the city-state. Singapore did
not differentiate between income groups in terms of providing and incorporating green
measures in urban areas for living and working.
Since 2008, Singapore made green building mandatory and since then tall buildings and other
spaces are built as sustainable ecosystems. Finding plants and green spaces in and around
buildings is common, the also the interior of the building. Cheong Koon Hean is the first
woman to lead the country’s urban development agency which developed these measures. Due
to the integration of buildings with green spaces, the country has grown to become a major eco-
tourism destination providing one of the largest economic benefits.
Eco-friendly buildings, vertical gardens and green buildings were commonly built and seen
around Singapore. Some of the famous examples of biophilic design are Jewel Changi Airport
and Gardens by the Bay.

Long-term goals and mindset change

The Minister for the Environment and Water Resources of Singapore Masagos Zulkifli
specified how several countries focus on short term goals such as economic development rather
than environmental improvements. But Singapore managed to preserve the environment
while developing the economy through a mindset change.
For decades, the central government developed a management technique to drive the country’s
growth through the skilful use of its limited resources and land. They focused on achieving
long-term goals of building a sustainable and liveable city through realistic policymaking on
the sound economy and science-based regulations. They wanted to earn the support of their
residents through active implementation. Environmental focused designs and initiatives help
Singapore in lessening the urban heat island effect and carbon emissions.

Educating the young generation

When a new generation of people in Singapore are born into a city of a clean and green
environment, the lessons learnt from the past to achieve the current state can easily be forgotten.
To continue the system even in the future, Singapore offered environmental awareness for its
residents. Training young people to continue the achievement gained through the years is
highly necessary, according to Lim Liang Jim, the director of the National Parks Board’s
National Biodiversity Centre. He also stated when someone in the future decides to just build
with less regard to the environment, the residents can act as activists for nature conservation
and green spaces. Environmental education is part of the school education in Singapore that
enables students to adopt environmentally conscious habits. The students will participate in
planting more trees and learn about ‘green jobs’ they could pursue, as the government seeks a
sustainable future. These form as a part of the initiatives under ‘Green Plan 2030’ taken by the
Ministry of Education (MOE) in the country.
The environmental consciousness and habits among the younger generation will instil climate
change education needed for the future of urban areas. The environment-related volunteering
and movement help in raising the consciousness of green jobs in urban planning and design,
renewable energy, green financing, sustainability specialists, climate change specialists, green
technology, food sustainability, water management and urban farming. ‘The Green School
Roadmap’ provides younger generations with actual participation in the green building
movement. Moreover, a greater number of university programs are dedicated
to sustainable/green building design and technology.

FUTURE CHALLENGES
Looking ahead, there are many challenges to Singapore’s continual growth and development.
It must be resilient and innovative to overcome these challenges. Its ageing population is a
growing concern especially for an economy that relies on its people as its only resource. Long-
term plan is to build a Nation for All Ages.
By leveraging technology, Singapore aims re-design workplaces and jobs to allow its seniors
to remain active, and even gainfully employed, for as long as they are able and willing to. This
will go some way towards mitigating the impact of an ageing society on our economy.
Disruptive technologies could potentially render Singaporean people’s knowledge and skills
irrelevant, with real impact on their livelihoods.
Singaporeans need to be prepared to constantly upgrade themselves and learn new skillsets.
This is why we have put in place the Skills Future programme which aims to change mindsets
to embrace lifelong learning. To succeed in this endeavour, we need a Whole of-Society
commitment: the Government, employers, the community, and the individual must play their
part. Through its Smart Nation initiative, it also seeks to build a Singapore where technology
empowers people to lead meaningful and fulfilled lives.
Limited land means there will be competing priorities between the needs of different groups,
sectors, and industries as we grow. Singapore is looking to better optimise its land use through
creative solutions. In this regard, launched the Underground Master Plan in 2019 to map out
underground spaces and their potential uses, paving the way for a future underground
metropolis.

SINGAPORE’S APPROACH
When it comes to development, Singapore has always taken a long-term, forward-looking
approach. For example, it is undertaking several major infrastructure projects in the next decade
to accommodate our growth. This includes the construction of Terminal 5 of Singapore’s
Changi International Airport which is expected to be completed by 2030.
Singapore do not shy away from making tough but necessary decisions. This was why it
decided to introduce a carbon tax in 2019. It recognised that climate change is a real threat to
its survival, and have taken difficult but necessary steps to ensure that industries and
households are playing their part to reduce our carbon emissions.
These principles have guided Singapore and will continue to do so as it seeks to build on the
progress in sustainable development towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and beyond.

REFERENCES

• Our Vision - https://www.greenplan.gov.sg/vision/

• How Sustainable Cities Like Singapore Succeed in Green Urban Development,

By Martina Igini - https://earth.org/how-sustainable-cities-like-singapore-succeed-in-
green-urban-development/

• How Singapore became one of the Greenest Cities in the World, By Oviyaa
Venkateshwaran https://citiesfuture.com/how-singapore-became-one-of-the-greenest-
cities-in-the-world-5-key-reasons/

• Singapore’s Voluntary National Review Report to the 2018 UN High-level Political

Forum on Sustainable Development By Ministry of Foreign Affairs
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/19439Singapores_Voluntar
y_National_Review_Report_v2.pdf