Leveraging Partnerships to Create a Sustainable Manufacturing Sector
Global warming is a crisis that affects all countries. The international response towards this has been rallied with an increasing sense of urgency and a shift in attention from sustainability at the individual level to the corporate level.
Building on its commitment towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) 2030 Agenda and Paris Agreement, Singapore recently launched the Singapore Green Plan 2030 in February this year. As Singapore’s leading industrial developer, JTC has started accelerating and proliferating our sustainability efforts almost 3 years ago. Many of JTC’s ongoing sustainability efforts for the industrial sector has already been contributing to SG Green Plan pillars, such as:
- JTC’s solar programs
In collaboration with our industry partners and customers, we launched the SolarLand and SolarRoof programmes to advance solar deployment and contribute to Singapore’s target of at least 2GWp (gigawatt-peak) by 2030. Under these programmes, we are working with solar vendors, such as Terrenus Energy, Sunseap and Sembcorp Solar, to install solar panels on rooftops and vacant industrial land in our estates. As a result of this, tech giants like Facebook and Amazon have come on board to tap renewable energy generated from JTC’s solar farms at Changi Business Park and Jurong Island.
Figure 1: Solarland Phase 1
- Jurong Island Renewables Open Call
The program will explore possible locations for solarisation, for example dead sea spaces, roadsides and tank rooftops. We are looking to partner lessees to offer suitable spaces for research and test-bedding, indicate interest in the program, and connect with potential solution providers.
As shared by Mr Calvin Chung, Chief Sustainability Officer from JTC during the Urban Sustainability R&D e-Symposia, Green Transformation of Industries: A Tripartite Partnership webinar during his presentation Catalysing Industrial Transformation for Sustainability: greenDIP, a key feature of JTC’s existing efforts are the close partnerships formed with institutes of higher learning (IHLs) and the private sector. We believe that in order to catalyse decarbonisation in the industrial sector, these partnerships will continue to play a major and critical role, as emphasied by the rest of the speakers for the e-Symposia as well.
Figure 2: e-Symposia webinar on “Green Transformation of Industries: A Tripartite Partnership” held on 25th May 2021
Mr Jonathan Low from SIMTECH, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) shared on life cycle analysis that can holistically help companies assess their carbon footprint in manufacturing processes and operational methods in his presentation, Measuring Sustainability with Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing. Mr Chai Boo Choon from GSK Singapore demonstrated how how sustainable manufacturing and business goals are aligned to deliver positive outcomes via strategic commitments and community outreach programs in Journey Towards Sustainable Manufacturing in GSK Singapore. Finally, Mr Allan Lim from ComCrop echoed the importance of working closely with government agencies and communities to deliver impact as an aspiring entrepreneur in Transforming for Clean Energy & Sustainable Singapore.
Moving forward, JTC’s will continue to use partnerships to create value and impact in its sustainability work. This will come in two forms:
- Decarbonising the industry
JTC aims to take a coordinated, targeted and consistent approach to provide a set of tools to help customers in their decarbonisation journey, promote JTC’s sustainability engagement with tenants and lesees, and systematically account for companies’ CO2 savings. As a first step, JTC will be partnering A*STAR and TÜV SÜD to develop a set of assessment tools (greenCompass) to holistically evaluate companies’ sustainability performance. We hope that when greenCompass is launched, companies will make use of this set of tools to aid them in their decarbonisation journey.
- R&D efforts
Sustainability and resilience have always been a key motivator in JTC’s R&D efforts. We take a collaborative approach to bring various parties in the built environment value-chain together to develop R&D solutions. The R&D areas include new materials, sustainability cooling solutions, resilient infrastructure technologies, smart building controls, and Renewables.
For more information on our JTC Innovation Challenge Programme, or testbed opportunities, you can contact us directly at here. You can also sign up for our newsletter to receive the latest industry news, initiatives and events surrounding sustainable development.
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