• Introduced by the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) in October 2019. 
• Provides legislative enforcement for regulatory measures managing waste streams with high generation and low recycling rates. 
• Targets three critical waste streams: 
  • E-waste 
  • Food waste 
  • Packaging waste (including plastics) 

• Requires companies to submit annual data on their packaging and report on reduce, reuse, recycle (3R) plans. 
• Companies must provide information on the packaging that they introduce into Singapore annually, broken down according to type of packaging material (e.g. Plastic, paper, metal, glass), packaging form (e.g. Carrier bags, bottles) and corresponding weights. 
• Administered by the National Environment Agency (NEA). 
• Commenced on 1 July 2020. 
• Promotes corporate awareness around packaging waste, encouraging companies to reduce packaging usage, which can lead to both cost savings and operational flexibility.
• The MPR applies to companies meeting all of the following criteria: 
  • Operate a business supplying regulated goods within Singapore 
  • Has an annual turnover of > S$10m 
  • Imports or uses specified packaging. 

• Launched in 2021 under the RSA and administered by the NEA.  
• Ensures regulated electronics are responsibly collected and treated to recover valuable resources. 
• Companies manufacturing or importing regulated electrical and electronic products for the Singapore market must ensure responsible collection and recycling of e-waste. 
• Retailers of regulated consumer products are required to provide free, one-for-one take-back service for e-waste during product delivery. 
• Large retailers are required to establish in-store e-waste collection points for information, communication, and technology (ICT) equipment.
• All collected e-waste must be sent to licensed recyclers for proper treatment.
• Singapore is assessing the feasibility of extending EPR to cover additional types of packaging waste (as of October 2024, no further updates). 

Singapore’s dependency on energy imports, limited land size, and position as a regional finance hub pose interesting challenges to its economic and sustainability ambitions. The introduction of sustainability reporting requirements for publicly listed companies, the development of a national green taxonomy, and stringent building efficiency goals (such as the 80-80-80 plan by 2030 under the Singapore green building masterplan) underscore Singapore's commitment to addressing these issues in an integrated manner. 

Singapore is primarily challenged by two critical carbon-intensive sectors: the significant embodied carbon emissions in the built environment and the energy requirements of data centres, a key enabler of a digitalised future economy. 

The enhancements to Singapore’s sustainability reporting regime mean that disclosures on the sustainability performance of data centres and embodied carbon may face more scrutiny. At the same time, ongoing refinements to science-based target-setting standards, such as the Science Based Targets Initiative’s (SBTi) building sector standard, will reshape how companies in Singapore approach and report their environmental impacts in the built environment, making reporting a vital tool for demonstrating corporate responsibility and resilience. 

Between 2020 and 2060, the world will build an estimated 2.6 trillion square feet of new building floor area (Architecture 2030.) This is a problem because the built environment is responsible for about 42% of annual global emissions. 27% of emissions come from building operations (energy used in heating, cooling, and powering buildings), and 15% are from the embodied carbon of materials (arising from the production, transportation, and installation of building materials). 

Embodied carbon is the emissions associated with materials and construction processes throughout the whole lifecycle of a building or infrastructure. This includes all emissions from material production and construction phases (upfront carbon), maintenance, repair and refurbishment (use-stage embodied carbon), demolition, deconstruction and material processing/disposal (end of life carbon). 

To meet the 1.5°C climate target set by international agreements, all carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from the built environment must be eliminated by 2040. 

In Singapore, almost 40% of emissions over a building’s lifetime are from embodied carbon due to short life cycles stemming from Singapore’s faster rate of urban renewal relative to other cities. To manage this, the SGBMP has also launched an ‘80-80-80' by 2030 plan to green 80% of all buildings by gross floor area, improve energy efficiency of best-in-class green buildings over 2005 levels by 80%, and ensure 80% of new developments are Super Low Energy (SLE) buildings by 2030. 

To establish data baselines, the Singapore Building Carbon Calculator was also launched in 2023 to aid developers and consultants in measuring localised embodied carbon. 

In lieu of this, identifying consistent organisational boundaries around embodied carbon will be a key challenge facing sustainability reporters with multiple assets in multiple jurisdictions. Additionally, sustainability reporters will have to pay attention to how they consolidate their investments in assets in order to align disclosures around embodied carbon with sustainability disclosure standards such as the ISSB Standards.   

Accounting for more than 60% of Southeast Asia’s data centre market, Singapore is home to 87 data centres (DCs), playing a critical role in the region’s digital infrastructure. DCs use significant amounts of energy, accounting for 1.5% of global electricity use. Additionally, energy is needed for more than just operations, as DCs often overheat and require cool air to regulate servers. As global temperatures continue to rise, keeping DCs cool in Singapore's tropical climate presents many challenges. 

In 2019, the government imposed a moratorium on DC development to allow for time to evaluate how to manage the industry’s growth in a sustainable manner. The moratorium was only lifted in 2022 and now, Singapore aims to add at least 300 megawatts of DC capacity in the near term.

To manage this, Singapore is exploring immersion cooling for DCs and launched the Green Data Centre Roadmap (GDCR) in May 2024 to identify pathways for managing operational emissions from data centres. Singapore will also update the Green Mark certification of DCs in Singapore which sets the energy efficiency and sustainability benchmarks for the DC industry.