SINGAPORE - Given that buildings account for more than 20 per cent of Singapore's carbon emissions, having more green buildings is an important part of the country's climate change mitigation strategy.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) will be making this push by creating a masterplan for green buildings, among other initiatives, said Minister of State for National Development and Manpower Zaqy Mohamad on Wednesday (March 4).

"Our industry transformation efforts are not limited to improving productivity," he told Parliament during the debate on his ministry's budget. "We must remake our city to meet the challenges of climate change."

Mr Zaqy called on stakeholders to co-create the Singapore Green Building Masterplan over the next few months.

Apart from traditional industry stakeholders, such as trade associations and chambers, the BCA and SGBC aim to involve tenants, home buyers, young people and activists in the endeavour.

A key initiative being considered is to promote energy-efficient buildings.

"We intend to raise the minimum energy performance standards. This will lower emissions, and also benefit building owners over the building life cycle," said Mr Zaqy.

He added that the BCA Green Mark certification standards, which recognise environmentally friendly buildings, will be reviewed.

Another initiative is to enable greater transparency in building energy performance.

Today, close to 80 per cent of commercial building owners voluntarily disclose their building's name and address along with their energy performance data, which is published by the BCA annually.

"We intend to identify all buildings when publishing the data, so that the best-performing buildings will serve as role models to encourage others to improve their own energy efficiency," Mr Zaqy said.

Singapore has greened more than 40 per cent of its buildings (by gross floor area) as of December last year, since the launch of the BCA's Green Mark scheme in 2005, and is on track to meet the target of 80 per cent by 2030.