Push for greener buildings under refreshed Singapore Green Building Masterplan: Desmond Lee

SINGAPORE is targeting 80 per cent of new buildings to be Super Low Energy (SLE) buildings from 2030 under the refreshed Singapore Green Building Masterplan (SGBMP). (see amendment note)

Speaking at the Committee of Supply debate on Thursday, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee outlined plans to make Singapore's urban environment more green and sustainable under the "City in Nature" and "Energy Reset" pillars of the Green Plan.

Under the "Energy Reset" pillar of the Green Plan, the aim is to make Singapore's buildings, HDB towns and districts more sustainable.

Three key targets are part of the fourth edition of SGBMP - to green 80 per cent of Singapore's buildings (by gross floor area) by 2030; to have 80 per cent of new developments to be SLE buildings from 2030; and for best-in-class green buildings to see an 80 per cent improvement in energy-efficiency levels by 2030 (compared to 2005 levels).

SLE buildings are those which achieve at least 60 per cent improvement in energy efficiency vis-a-vis 2005 levels.

Under the first target, Singapore has made good progress by greening over 43 per cent of its buildings, although there is more to do, Mr Lee highlighted.

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He added: "Beyond that, we must push more owners of buildings to pursue best-in-class standards, and become SLE buildings." The government will take the lead in SLE buildings and build industry capabilities to develop SLE buildings, so the private sector has more use cases to take reference from.

Meanwhile, in line with the third target, research and innovation efforts will be ramped up to accelerate the deployment of cost-effective green technologies. "We are seeing how we can further enhance funding support for (the) Green Buildings Innovation Cluster (programme) to help us achieve this third target," Mr Lee added.

Aside from designing new HDB towns to be greener and more sustainable, the Ministry of National Development (MND) and the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) are working together to make existing towns more sustainable by using infrastructure solutions to help bring down energy consumption by 15 per cent by 2030, versus 2020 levels. Solutions include smart LED lights to reduce energy use, doubling solar capacity on HDB rooftops and converting top decks of suitable multi-storey car parks into urban farms, community gardens and green landscapes.

To date, HDB has called or awarded tenders to implement solar panels on more than 5,700 HDB blocks, to be completed within the next two to three years - achieving over 50 per cent of the solar capacity target of 540 megawatt-peak by 2030.

Mr Lee also highlighted that research & development (R&D) remains a thrust of Singapore's long-term strategy to make its urban environment more sustainable.

The Cities of Tomorrow (CoT) R&D programme - which has supported R&D to help address urban sustainability challenges since it was launched in 2017 - will be extended for another five years. R&D which supports Singapore's efforts to become a "City in Nature" will be a key research area that the Republic will "significantly" invest in under CoT, he added.

Meanwhile, as part of the goal to transform Singapore into a "City in Nature", over 130 hectares (ha) of new parks will be added, while 170 ha of existing parks will be enhanced to feature more lush vegetation and natural landscape. This will be done by end-2026, translating to over 300 ha of such parks, or nearly four times the size of the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

At the same time, Singapore's Park Connector network is being expanded with new routes across the island, such that the Republic will have 500 kilometres of park connectors by 2030.

In his speech, Mr Lee also touched on the increasingly challenging balancing act between conservation and development, given Singapore's tight land constraints. He reiterated that MND is reviewing whether it would be better to centralise the management of Environmental Impact Assessment consultants, instead of having individual developers manage their own.

A fauna baseline study is also underway for the Kranji Agri-Food Innovation Park site and its results will be released to the public once concluded. JTC will engage stakeholders on the findings, including measures to enhance the greenery and connectivity of the site.

Amendment note: An earlier version of the story stated the refreshed Singapore Green Building Masterplan is targeting 80 per cent of new buildings to be Super Low Energy (SLE) buildings by 2030. It should be 80 per cent of new buildings to be SLE buildings from 2030.