[SINGAPORE] Jurong Island will be a sustainable energy and chemicals park by 2030 as part of Singapore's push to make industrial production processes and energy usage greener and improve energy efficiency.

The Republic also aims to develop itself into a sustainable tourism destination as well as a carbon services hub and a centre for green finance to facilitate sustainability efforts in Asia.

In a statement announcing an inter-ministerial Green Plan on Wednesday (Feb 10), the government said Singapore's sustainability efforts will bring new business opportunities.

The Green Economy, one of five key pillars of the new Green Plan, aims to seek green growth opportunities to create new jobs, transform Singapore's industries and harness sustainability as a competitive advantage, the statement said.

This also entails ensuring that new carbon-intensive investments brought into Singapore are among the best-in-class in terms of carbon and energy efficiency.

Other initiatives include strengthening Singapore as a location for both global and local companies to develop new sustainability solutions for Asia through research and development in areas such as sustainable packaging, decarbonisation, waste upcycling, urban farming and water treatment.

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New technologies for carbon capture, utilisation and storage will be developed and trialled, and the potential of low-carbon hydrogen and other emerging technological approaches to decarbonisation will be studied.

The government will also support local enterprises to adopt sustainability practices, solutions and standards, enhance their resource efficiency and tap new business opportunities in sustainability, the statement added.

The Green Plan is spearheaded by the Ministries of Education, National Development, Sustainability and the Environment, Trade and Industry, and Transport.

The government has also reiterated its plan to review the carbon tax by 2023, a move that MPs on both sides of the aisle in Parliament have strongly supported.

During the Parliament sitting on Feb 1, many MPs called for the carbon tax to be raised significantly and for the review to be brought forward.

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