Singapore’s public sector emissions down slightly in FY2023
The dip comes courtesy of the Tuas South waste-to-energy plant generating fewer emissions
SINGAPORE’s public-sector emissions dipped slightly in its 2023 fiscal year ending Mar 31, 2024, declining by 0.2 per cent to 3,612 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, from 3,617 ktCO2e the year before.
The figure covers both the government’s operational and power consumption-based emissions, otherwise known as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. Scope 3 emissions, which cover emissions arising from an entity’s supply chain, are not included in the Singapore government’s annual sustainability report, which was launched for the first time last year.
The public sector’s Scope 1 emissions fell slightly as the Tuas South waste-to-energy plant generated fewer emissions in FY2023. This helped offset the increase in diesel use due to increased bus service mileage, said the latest public sector sustainability report released on Monday (Nov 18).
The fall in Scope 1 emissions slightly outweighed the rise in Scope 2 emissions.
Emissions arising from the purchase of electricity was a result of the expansion of the city-state’s public infrastructure in the transport and healthcare sectors.
More train stations were added to expand the rail network; public hospitals increased their number of beds, and new healthcare facilities were opened to meet the growing demand for healthcare services.
A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU
Friday, 12.30 pm
ESG Insights
An exclusive weekly report on the latest environmental, social and governance issues.
The report said: “Overall, as lives for Singaporeans returned to normalcy post-Covid, demand for public-sector services also returned to close to pre-pandemic levels.
“We expect emissions to continue to increase for a bit more as we complete a number of key infrastructural projects which were delayed due to Covid-19 disruptions.”
Nonetheless, the level of carbon emissions was still 6.8 per cent lower than the FY2020 baseline emissions.
SEE ALSO
This came from the decommissioning of another waste-to-energy plant in Tuas in 2022. Waste was diverted to other incineration plants, including those managed by the private sector.
The government had previously announced that it would publish its own sustainability report annually to track the public sector’s efforts, progress and plans in rolling out its sustainability agenda.
The sustainability report includes the emissions profile of all 16 ministries, including the statutory boards under them, as well as the Judiciary, Parliament, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Auditor-General’s Office. Statutory boards are required to make their own annual sustainability disclosures from FY2024.
The report, however, does not cover the emissions of the entire country.
Under Singapore’s decarbonisation plan, the government is aiming to peak its own emissions around 2025, and achieve its net-zero target around 2045.
Electricity usage
While carbon emissions for FY2023 fell slightly, the public sector’s electricity use went up by 1.5 per cent to 5,449 gigawatt-hour, compared to the previous FY. It was also 1 per cent higher than the baseline, which is an average of electricity use between FY2018 and FY2020 to better reflect hybrid working arrangements post-pandemic.
Electricity used per unit area went up by 1 per cent from the previous FY, also because of increased electricity use across public-sector premises.
However, it was 3.7 per cent lower than the baseline, due to new facilities being designed to higher energy-efficiency standards and the retrofitting of older ones with more energy-efficient systems.
Water usage
The public sector’s total water use fell by 0.4 per cent in FY2023 to 33.4 billion litres, compared to 33.5 billion litres in the previous FY.
It also was down by 1.4 per cent compared to the baseline.
The amount of water used per person per day also declined, dipping 4 per cent to 60.7 litres compared to the previous FY, and by 5.6 per cent against the baseline, derived using a similar method as the one for electricity use.
“This resulted from efforts to better manage water consumption across our premises, even as we catered for the return of more occupants and visitors,” read the report.
Waste
The public sector disposed of 218.7 million kg of waste in FY2023, a 1.3 per cent increase from FY2022, because of increased levels of activity and higher footfall in public-sector facilities post-Covid.
But the amount of waste disposed by each person a day fell by 9.1 per cent to 0.38 kg, compared with FY2022.
This is the first time data on waste has been included in the government’s sustainability report. It had said in its previous report that more time is needed to improve the public sector’s data collection processes as waste disposal is not metered, unlike for electricity and water use.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
