What’s missing from the Singapore Green Plan Energy Reset pillar?

One of the main themes for the upcoming Budget 2022 is to prepare Singaporeans and Singapore for a greener and more sustainable future. Putting climate change on the national budget agenda signals a noteworthy shift as it presents the blueprint for significant economic shifts in order for us to achieve our emissions reduction commitments previously laid out. The government recognises that in order to build a sustainable future, we need to participate in a green energy transition, and a green economy would present new opportunities for growth and job creation.

So, how exactly does the Singapore Green Plan 2030 align with this? In this post, we tackle one of the five pillars in Singapore’s roadmap to achieving environmental sustainability: Energy Reset.

Original Illustration by Energy CoLab

Singapore is a petrochemical hub. In 2020, the energy and chemicals sector contributed 3% of Singapore’s GDP, employing over 27,000 people. Power generation is the second-largest contributor to Singapore’s carbon emissions after the industrial sector (around 39% of total emissions), and nearly 95% of Singapore’s electricity generation comes from natural gas. Our energy and industry sectors contribute 60% of our total emissions and 3/4 of these emissions are from oil refinery and petrochemical alone.

So, what would it take for us to be a “Green Economy” and decarbonise our electricity supply?

Singapore Green Plan 2030: Energy Reset

Singapore Green Plan 2030 has a total of five pillars. In particular, the Energy Reset pillar lays out four main avenues to use cleaner energy and increase energy efficiency:

• Green Energy: Increase fuel efficiency, support the transition towards a greener energy mix and tap on the low-carbon potential of clean electricity imports.
• Greener Infrastructure and Buildings: Raise the sustainability standards of our buildings and improve the energy efficiency of water treatment plants.
• Sustainable Towns and Districts: Introduce smart LED lighting, extensively deploy solar panels on HDB rooftops and convert top decks of multi-storey car parks into urban farms and community gardens.
• Cleaner-energy Vehicles: Increase uptake of cleaner-energy vehicle models and increase the number of electric vehicle (EV) charging points nationwide.

To summarise the key targets under each avenue by 2030:

1. Green Energy: Extensive deployment of solar panel to 3% of projected energy, diversify electricity supply with clean electricity imports and increase efficiency of gas-fired power plants to reduce emissions.
2. Greener infrastructure and buildings “80–80–80 in 2030”: To green 80% of all buildings and raise the sustainability standard, achieve 80% of new developments as Super Low Energy (SLE) buildings and reach an 80% improvement in energy efficiency for best-in-class green buildings
3. Sustainable Towns and Districts: Reduce energy consumption in HDB towns by 15% through smart LED lights, centralised cooling systems, etc.
4. Cleaner-energy Vehicles: All new cars to be of cleaner-energy models and expansion to 60,000 charging points nationwide by 2030.

With what seems like an ambitious plan to transform our economy and the way we live towards a “greener” one, what is missing or left out?

1. Lack of interim targets and transparent reporting: Over the 10-year timeline, the plan does not offer short (1–2 years) and medium (3–7) term targets to measure the phase out of fossil fuels from our economy. Since its launch in 2021, there has been no information on our progress towards the various goals.
2. No mention of workers: We believe that in order for energy transition plans to be just and equitable, they must protect livelihoods and wellbeing of oil and gas workers who face risks of displacement. The lack of mention of workers within the plan reveals a huge gap between the government’s rhetoric on “sustainability as a new engine for jobs” and actual policies rolled out to prepare existing workers for new job opportunities in the clean energy sector and beyond. How may we up-skill our workers while providing wage support? How can our educational institutions play a more prominent role in supporting such a transformation in our workforce?
3. No meaningful consultation with stakeholders: Energy is no longer a niche issue that concerns only the elite — policy makers, academics and experts. It is now a bread and butter issue as it affects our electricity prices and overall costs of living. Yet, there has been little to no engagement with youth, workers, and members of the public, especially those who will be disproportionately affected by rising electricity prices, on what the energy transition should and could look like for Singapore. Furthermore, there remain little incentives for lower-income families to switch to or benefit from more energy-efficient alternatives or for the private sector to adopt solar panels.
4. Lack of consideration for environmental and social impacts beyond Singapore: With plans to extensively diversify our “low carbon electricity imports”, how do we ensure that our existing and new projects are not causing harm and damage to local communities in neighbouring countries? A just transition should not replicate the same form of violences that the lie at the root of the climate crisis we are facing today.

Follow us on Medium and on our Instagram, as we seek to tackle some of these questions in our upcoming posts!

Check out our Instagram Post associated with this article, What’s missing from the Singapore Green Plan’s Energy Reset pillar?