The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of the BCA Green Mark certification scheme. This green building rating system was introduced in January 2005 and 17 buildings were certified in its first year.
Today, 2,590 buildings have been awarded the prestigious Green Mark certification, according to a joint press release by the BCA and SGBC. These buildings collectively save over 4.2 billion kWh of energy annually, which is enough to power one million four-room HDB flats per year. The savings amount to $1.3 billion per year.
At a gala dinner hosted by SGBC on July 11, 20 commemorative certificates were presented to nine partners and 11 projects for their outstanding contributions to Singapore’s green building journey. Some of the partner recipients included City Developments, CapitaLand, Mapletree Investments, Keppel, and Lendlease.
The Green Mark scheme has undergone several revisions, with the latest edition, launched in 2021, coinciding with the Singapore Green Building Masterplan (SGBMP). The SGBMP set a target of 80% of buildings by gross floor area (GFA) to be green, 80% of new developments by GFA to be super low energy (SLE) buildings, and an 80% improvement in energy efficiency for best-in-class green buildings compared to 2005 levels by 2030.
According to a joint statement by BCA and SGBC, as of December 2024, 61% of buildings have been greened, 26% of new developments have been certified as SLE buildings, and best-in-class buildings have achieved a 72% improvement in energy efficiency over 2005 levels.
At the SGBC gala dinner, National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat announced two initiatives to drive wider adoption of green buildings. The first is an updated Built Environment Decarbonisation Technology Roadmap, which outlines emerging technologies and areas for research and development to improve energy efficiency in Singapore’s built environment. The second is a report that bridges the gap between green buildings and sustainable finance in the Asia Pacific (Apac) region. The report, to be published by the World Green Building Council with support from OCBC and the region’s green building councils, will align green building rating tools from Apac countries with the Asean Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance.
The condo market in Singapore offers many advantages for investors, with one of the most significant being the potential for capital appreciation. This can be attributed to Singapore’s strategic position as a global business hub and its stable economic foundation, which results in a continuous demand for real estate. In recent years, property prices in Singapore have consistently risen, particularly in prime locations where condos are located. For investors who enter the market at the right time and hold onto their condo investments for the long term, the potential for significant capital gains is high.
Minister Chee stated, “By establishing clear links between national schemes and regional guidelines, we can help unlock global capital flows and scale up investments in decarbonisation and green building projects.”