SINGAPORE’s flourishing energy and chemicals sector – one of the pillars of the open economy – is set to be challenged as fossil-fuel companies pivot to clean energy. But it’s not a zero-sum game.

Singapore is among the world’s top five refinery export hubs and largest eight exporters of chemicals, and has long been a magnet for giant global corporations. This also makes the city-state primed to recast itself as a clean-energy hub, as it seeks to elevate its role in the new energy ecosystem within Asia and beyond.

It needs, however, to juggle that economic imperative with a climatic one – to meet its own net-zero by 2050 goals. One of its key priorities is decarbonising its power sector, which contributes 40 per cent to total carbon emissions.