Country deep-dive

Singapore

524

Startups mapped

45.6%

Of ASEAN-6

1,148

STARTUPS ACROSS ASEAN-6

Current State

Energy, Industry, and Digital Infrastructure

For a decade, Singapore set voluntary energy targets. 2026 is when several turned into binding rules with real deadlines. New data centre capacity – at least 200 megawatts – now requires a strict efficiency standard and at least half green power. Buildings that have overrun energy limits for three years must hire an auditor and cut use by 10%, backed by a S$63 million grant. The carbon tax rose to S$45 a tonne on 1 January 2026, heading to S$50-80 by 2030. The largest listed companies must now report emissions across their supply chains too.

Reliance on imported gas was tested directly in March 2026 by a disruption in the Strait of Hormuz cut off the Qatari LNG cargoes that supply almost half the country's LNG imports. Pipeline gas from Malaysia and Indonesia covered most of the shortfall. But the energy regulator still flagged higher electricity prices and warned of a wider disruption.

Singapore's Sembcorp completed the world's first vertical expansion of an operating battery system on Jurong Island.

Finance, Markets, and Regional Hub Role

Singapore's edge in the green transition has always been capital. In 2026, that role also became physical and contractual. Clean power imports are scaling – the 2035 target rose from 4 to 6 GW, with 9.25 GW approved (as of August 2026).

On carbon markets, Singapore signed MOUs with Malaysia, Indonesia, and Cambodia, and binding Implementation Agreements on carbon credits collaboration with Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, and Laos. Singapore also launched a carbon markets programme with the World Bank, though the market is soft – retirements and prices both fell in 2025. Underneath sits capital: Temasek's “sustainable living trend-aligned” portfolio hit S$49 billion in March 2026, and its climate fund GenZero (S$5 billion) has 26 investments in as many countries.

In August 2026 CIX announced its intention to merge with Carbonplace, a UK carbon portfolio management and trading platform This merger of complementary capabilities will support the next phase of environmental markets.

Climate Resilience and Infrastructure

Singapore has named 2026 its "Year of Climate Adaptation," covering heat, water and food, coastal and flood resilience, biodiversity and greenery, and vector-borne disease.

The Coastal and Flood Protection Fund, established in Budget 2020 with an initial S$5 billion, received a further S$5 billion top-up in Budget 2025. This is part of a a S$100 billion 100-year commitment to protect Singapore against rising sea levels. The first National Adaptation Plan is due in 2027, and the 800-hectare Long Island reclamation is under way. A reflective-coating programme is cutting about 2°C off public housing, home to 80% of Singaporeans, reaching every estate by 2030 and lowering bills too. A deposit-return scheme launched in April 2026 to extend the life of Semakau, the only landfill, due to fill by 2035.

But not everything is on schedule: the first integrated water and solid waste treatment facility, Tuas Nexus, was due in 2025, but will run from 2027.

Ambition

Near-Term (through 2027)

Singapore-Asia Taxonomy

The Singapore-Asia Taxonomy’s “Amber” transition category allows funding for gas plants with lower emissions and early coal plant retirements, but banks remain cautious about lending against this. This could change from September 2027, when new MAS guidelines aim to push banks to finance high-emitting clients’ transitions rather than divest.

National Adaptation Plan

Singapore's first National Adaptation Plan is due in 2027.

ASEAN chairmanship

Singapore chairs ASEAN from January 2027 (its first chairmanship since 2018). The ASEAN Power Grid, Article 6 cooperation, and climate resilience have been named as priorities.

Medium-Term (2028–2035)

Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)

As part of Singapore’s 2035 NDC, emissions will peak sometime between now and 2030, and drop to ~60 MtCO2e by 2030. The same year, solar is meant to reach 3 GW. Nearly all of that solar growth has to come from facades, overhangs and floating arrays, rather than conventional rooftop installations (already accounting for 80% of current installed capacity). It is backed by EMA's Future Grid Capabilities Roadmap.

Clean Energy Imports

Targeted to reach 6 GW by 2035, more than Singapore's entire domestic generation capacity today.

Long-Term (2036 and beyond)

Net-zero by 2050

Whether nuclear becomes more than a feasibility study

Budget 2025 doubled the Future Energy Fund to S$10 billion, and Singapore has signed nuclear cooperation deals with the United States, Japan, and South Korea. The National Environment Agency's (NEA) safety studies and a 2027 International Atomic Energy Agency review mark active study.

Select Green Economy Initiatives and Innovation Drivers

Green Data Centre Roadmap (second capacity release)

Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) / Energy Market Authority (EMA)

Reopens data centre capacity after years of an effective moratorium, gated on a power usage effectiveness (PUE) ≤1.25 and at least half green power. It is a tightening the efficiency bar first set in the 2022 pilot release. This could be a template for other capacity- constrained hubs in the region.

Mandatory Energy Improvement Regime for Buildings

Building and Construction Authority (BCA)

A S$63 million grant, running to March 2027, backs the mandate requiring large under-performing buildings to cut energy use by at least 10%. It is the most complete mandate-plus-subsidy retrofit package in Southeast Asia – a pipeline for audit and retrofit financing providers.

Carbon Tax to S$45 a Tonne

National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS)

Revenue is recycled into transition support and household rebates. The government may settle at the low end of its S$50-80 by 2030 path if global momentum weakens. A May 2026 rollover of unused offset quota reflects a supply-side lag, as eligible credits take years to generate (per MSE). Even so, it remains the key lever pulling Jurong Island emitters toward capture, efficiency, and waste heat investment.

Singapore-Asia Taxonomy and FAST-P

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)

The world's first taxonomy with a formal "transition" category, plus the FAST-P blended-finance vehicle (now at US$800 million), positioning Singapore as the region's transition finance clearing house. Its credibility now rests on uptake. Banks remain cautious about lending against the “Amber” tier as banks cannot yet price the risk. MAS's transition planning guidelines, which take effect in September 2027, will be an added push to use it. The outcome could shape which projects across the region can access transition capital.

Clean Energy Imports and ASEAN Power Grid

Energy Market Authority (EMA) / Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI)

Singapore's 2035 import target rose from 4 to 6 GW, with conditional approvals for 9.25 GW. The most concrete step, a Singapore-Malaysia feasibility study, targets 2030. As ASEAN chair from 2027, Singapore has named the ASEAN Power Grid a priority. Its own decarbonisation depends on infrastructure and diplomacy beyond its borders.

Council for a Competitive Climate Transition (C3T)

National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) / Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) / Singapore Business Federation

C3T is the public-private platform behind the business side of the Year of Climate Adaptation: convening industry to align sectoral transition pathways with the National Adaptation Plan, and to develop solutions on climate disclosure, green procurement, and sustainable financing.

Opportunities

Grid Flexibility, Imports, and Demand-side Orchestration

Distributed energy resources, VPPs and cross-border imports together carry the system through electrification, since there is limited land for utility-scale domestic renewables.

Show demand signals & innovation opportunities

Demand signals

EMA's 2035 import target raised from 4 GW to 6 GW
Singapore-Malaysia feasibility study targeting 2030 commercial operation

Innovation opportunities

Forecasting/orchestration engines for VPPs and C&I demand response
Procurement and contract management tools for hybrid renewable imports and vPPAs
Cross-border dispatch modelling and congestion analytics
Renewable certificate integrity tools across multi-country flows

Jurong Island Industrial Decarbonisation and Carbon-Capture Corridor

Jurong Island concentrates the bulk of Singapore's industrial emissions and at the same time, is the testbed for carbon capture, hydrogen and shared utility infrastructure.

Show demand signals & innovation opportunities

Demand signals

Carbon tax at S$45 per tonne strengthens the case for waste heat and efficiency retrofit.
Cross-border CCS corridor with Indonesia (3 MoUs, June 2025; contributing to the national target of at least 2 Mt of carbon capture by 2030

Innovation opportunities

Modular, point-source carbon-capture engineering
Digital twins for cluster-level energy/utility/CO2 flows
MRV and integrity tooling for hydrogen, ammonia, and captured CO2
Waste heat recovery and materials reuse

Efficiency-gated, High-density Data Centres

Land and grid constraints mean new capacity is released only to operators meeting a strict efficiency and green-energy bar.

Show demand signals & innovation opportunities

Demand signals

≥200 MW released, applications closed 31 March 2026, gated on PUE <1.25 and ≥50% approved green energy
WEF tracks reusing heat from data centres and managing their water use as significant investment categories

Innovation opportunities

Liquid cooling and thermal modelling systems for AI density clusters
Carbon-aware workload scheduling and automated carbon reporting
Power/cooling utilisation monitoring and heat-reuse modelling
Compliance tooling for the PUE <1.25 and ≥50% green energy gate

Maritime and Aviation Decarbonisation

Singapore already bunkers more marine fuel than any other port and refines at scale. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has set up the Singapore Sustainable Aviation Fuel Company Ltd. (SAFCo) to centrally procure sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)

Show demand signals & innovation opportunities

Demand signals

3 operators awarded 5-year green methanol bunkering licences (from January 2026)
SAF levy deferred to no earlier than January 2027; Neste/ExxonMobil build-out; Aether Fuels' Pulau Bukom plant (targeting 2028)
Ammonia ship-refuelling trials slated for late 2027

Innovation opportunities

Feedstock sourcing, traceability and quality-monitoring platforms for biofuels and green methanol
Digital MRV for alternative fuel pathways and certification compliance
Lifecycle-emissions modelling for CORSIA and SAF-levy compliance

Climate Disclosure, Assurance, and Carbon Market Services

Mandates are arriving faster than the local market can serve them – reporting, assurance and verified data requirements now have fixed dates and buyers.

Show demand signals & innovation opportunities

Demand signals

External limited assurance mandatory from FY2029, yet only ~7% of smaller listed firms are currently assured
Enterprise Singapore has a Sustainability Reporting Grant that offsets up to 30% of qualifying expenses for ISSB-based reports.
MAS's guidelines, effective September 2027, direct financial institutions to work toward primary data instead of relying on proxy data for climate-related risk assessments.

Innovation opportunities

Disclosure and assurance- readiness software for the mid-cap/Tier 2 supplier segment
Verified primary emissions data services for bank lending
Multi-carrier freight emissions aggregation for Scope 3 reporting

Physical Climate Resilience: Heat, Water, and Coast

Singapore is now turning resilience into capital projects.

Show demand signals & innovation opportunities

Demand signals

Cool Coatings reaching every HDB estate by 2030 (~80% of all Singapore residents)
PUB's Water Efficiency Fund supports up to S$5 million per recycling project, and up to S$300,000 of half of costs for water-efficient equipment.
Coastal and Flood Protection Fund (S$10 billion)

Innovation opportunities

Reflective/passive-cooling retrofit systems at scale
On-site water reuse and membrane bioreactor technology for water-intensive fabs
Coastal defence (eco-engineered shorelines)
Heat resilience monitoring and early warnings for outdoor workers
Resilient/low-carbon construction materials for reclamation and coastal defence works