The public sector wants to lead by example on climate change, by bringing down the carbon emissions it produces ahead of national targets, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said yesterday.
Government-owned offices and public infrastructure have set a target of reaching maximum emissions at around 2025, and will begin bringing them down then from that peak, five years earlier than the rest of the country, Ms Fu told Parliament during a debate on the Government's sustainability efforts.
She did not give details of the Government's target, but under the Paris Agreement, Singapore aims to peak its emissions at 65 million tonnes by around 2030, halve that amount to 33 million tonnes by 2050, and achieve net-zero emissions sometime in the second half of the century.
Singapore generated 52.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2017.
The GreenGov.SG initiative will see the public sector taking the lead in three other areas of sustainability.
One is to set sustainability-related targets not just for government-owned offices, but also public sector infrastructure such as waste-to-energy plants, public transport infrastructure, hawker centres and healthcare facilities.
The public sector will also adopt green procurement, buying products and services that have less impact on the environment, as a practice, said Ms Fu.
"As a major consumer of goods and services, the public sector can and will influence the industry towards sustainable business choices and practices by incorporating more sustainability req-uirements in our procurement framework," she said.
Finally, the Government will build a culture of sustainability among public service officers.
More details on GreenGov.SG will be released over the course of the year, she added.
Ms Fu's announcement followed last month's release of the Singapore Green Plan 2030, a multi-ministry blueprint that charts how Singapore can reach net-zero emissions as soon as possible.
Associate professor of science, technology and society Winston Chow of the Singapore Management University welcomed the move to bring forward public sector reductions in emissions, given that "there has been previous valid criticism of a lack of ambi-tion for climate mitigation from the Government".
He said he looked forward to getting the details on the public sector plan.
Noting that GreenGov.SG is an evolving blueprint, Prof Chow added: "The framework allows the flexibility to include more ambitious actions in the future - from both the private sector and our communities...
"Hopefully, this flexibility enables the systemic changes needed to reach a climate-resilient future we all desire for Singapore sooner rather than later."
Ms Melissa Low, a research fellow at the Energy Studies Institute at the National University of Singapore, also expressed interest in knowing what the public sector will set as its peak emission level.
"Peaking still indicates an increased trajectory, despite it being a reduction in the rate of increase.
"It is important that we ensure that where possible, emissions should see an absolute decrease, and not just a decrease in the rate of increase.
"Understandably, this takes time," said Ms Low.
