Refreshed environmental services road map to create over 1,600 PMET jobs by 2025

SINGAPORE’S updated industry transformation map (ITM) for the environmental services aims to create more than 1,600 professional, managerial, executive and technical (PMET) jobs by 2025, by deepening current transformation efforts and exploring new growth areas and jobs in environmental sustainability.

The Environmental Services ITM 2025, one of the 23 sectoral ITMs to be refreshed, was launched on Monday (Jan 16) by Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon. It seeks to harness opportunities in environmental sustainability, particularly in areas such as material circularity as well as decarbonised waste management solutions, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said.

The updated roadmap focuses on four key areas of industry transformation.

Firstly, it aims to intensify innovation and technology adoption to improve productivity and moderate manpower demand.

This will be done through research and development via innovation challenge platforms, as well as by positioning firms to take on emerging opportunities – both locally and internationally – in growth areas such as robotics and automation; resource recovery; material circularity; and carbon capture from waste treatment.

The ITM will also support the development of data-driven solutions for environmental services operations and delivery.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

Secondly, to nurture the development of promising firms, NEA will continue to assist Singapore-based companies with global capabilities to scale up and internationalise through global networking platforms such as the biennial CleanEnviro Summit Singapore.

NEA will continue to collaborate closely with stakeholders in the cleaning sector to drive the adoption of outcome-based contracting (OBC) among private services buyers.

It will also work with the Singapore Pest Management Association, Waste Management and Recycling Association of Singapore and other industry stakeholders to develop a set of OBC guidelines for both the pest and waste management sectors.

Lastly, the ITM will focus on creating quality jobs and improving job prospects for lower-wage and senior workers.

The updated roadmap has taken into consideration key recommendations from the Jobs Transformation Map for waste management and cleaning sectors, including strengthening upskilling opportunities for the workforce, as well as redesigning and rebranding cleaning and waste management jobs.

NEA will continue to collaborate closely with tripartite partners to strengthen the local talent pipeline by attracting fresh graduates and mid-career workers to take up jobs in the environmental sustainability and public health sectors.

First created in 2017, the Environmental Services ITM has led to good outcomes for the industry, said NEA. For instance, it enabled the industry to continue providing services during the Covid-19 pandemic through the use of technology and automated processes, which saw robots and machines supplementing the cleaning and disinfection regimes performed manually by workers.