Walking the Talk

Championing sustainability starts from within. NEA was the first public agency in Singapore to publish a sustainability report, and will continue to be one of the lead agencies for the GreenGov.SG initiative.

NEA’s Sustainability Framework

Four guiding principles shape NEA’s sustainability framework, which was updated in 2019 for closer alignment to NEA’s mandate, and guides NEA in prioritising our work on internal sustainability and in implementing new initiatives.

W.I.S.E. supports NEA’s key corporate sustainability pillars. Our desired outcomes are:

Engagement

• To achieve a high level of public trust
• For all staff to be NEA ambassadors

Environmental Sustainability Pillar

• To achieve a resource efficient office
• To achieve a clean and eco-friendly working environment

Financial Sustainability Pillar

• To ensure responsible procurement, investments and operations

Social Sustainability Pillar

• To have good workplace health and safety
• To have an expert and professional workforce
• To achieve strong corporate social responsibility

NEA’s Core Values as Enablers

NEA’s core values are integral to the framework, governance and initiatives of our sustainability journey. They are beacons that guide the actions, behaviours and mindsets required to drive and implement NEA’s sustainability goals:

• Care and Innovation are positioned as fundamental values pivotal to the organisation in NEA’s sustainability framework
• Teamwork is emphasised by including staff engagement in all of NEA’s sustainability initiatives
• Integrity is strictly upheld by exercising good corporate governance throughout NEA’s sustainability journey
• Professionalism is assured through the benchmarking of NEA’s sustainability efforts to national and international standards

Sustainability Governance Structure

A robust sustainability governance structure is set up to drive sustainability within NEA. NEA’s senior management is responsible for setting the sustainability direction for NEA, meeting regularly to deliberate and endorse NEA’s direction and sustainability initiatives.

All NEA divisional directors are Sustainability Champions, meeting quarterly at the NEA Sustainability Committee meetings to discuss and track environmental sustainability efforts, and review NEA's resource consumption trend. These meetings are also attended by Eco-office Champions – working level staff who are nominated on a rotational basis to encourage new ideas and provide opportunities for more staff to be involved in NEA’s sustainability journey. NEA’s Sustainability Division leads the planning and coordination of environmental sustainability initiatives within NEA, and provides secretariat support to the NEA Sustainability Committee.

Creating Value with Integrated Reporting

 NEA’s Integrated Sustainability Report 2019/2020 received the Gold award in the Asia's Best Stakeholder Reporting category at the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards 2020, a non-profit initiative that celebrates best practices in sustainability and Integrated Reporting. The report was the culmination of the four-year Integrated Reporting journey NEA had embarked on in 2017, to pursue greater efficiency, transparency and accountability in our corporate reporting. We had successfully aligned the report with international corporate reporting guidelines established by the International Integrated Reporting Council, and sustainability reporting requirements set by GRI, to showcase how NEA creates value for our stakeholders.

Conserving Resources Within NEA

As a responsible organisation, NEA is committed to conserving precious resources for our future generations. NEA tracks our usage of electricity, water and paper, and encourages staff to reduce consumption of resources by adopting sustainability measures and practices.

Surpassing Targets in PSTLES 2.0

Under the Public Sector Taking the Lead in Environmental Sustainability (PSTLES) 2.0 initiative, NEA committed to achieve electricity savings of 15 per cent and water efficiency index improvement of five per cent from FY2013 baseline consumption by FY2020. As of March 2021, NEA has exceeded both targets by achieving 15.3 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

Achieving the Green Mark for 13 NEA Premises

PSTLES 2.0 requires all mid-sized public sector premises to achieve at least a Green Mark (GM) Certification Gold rating. All 13 mid-sized premises in NEA attained Green Mark Certification Gold rating and beyond, with Tiong Bahru Market and Choa Chu Kang (CCK) Columbarium attaining GM Platinum (Super Low Energy and Positive Energy ratings). Both premises achieved high scores for good natural ventilation, energy efficient lighting installation, use of environmentally friendly products, and generation of on-site solar energy.

Shining at Energy Efficiency

NEA tracks electricity consumption at our offices and installations¹ using two related indicators:

• Energy intensity, which is measured as the electricity used per occupant for NEA offices and installations
• Total electricity consumption

In FY2020, NEA’s installations accounted for approximately 98 per cent of NEA’s total electricity consumption. The consumption at the installations has been fairly stable over from FY2018 to FY2020, with less than five per cent deviation.

NEA’s electricity consumption at offices decreased over the years. With work from home arrangements being predominant for much of FY2020 due to COVID-19, electricity consumption at our offices fell by 24.2 per cent in FY2020 as compared to FY2019. As there is still a need to maintain a minimum electrical baseload for the offices, there is an increase in the consumption per occupant.

A key energy efficiency improvement measure implemented in FY2020 was the continued replacement of air-conditioning units to 4-ticks energy efficient models at NEA regional offices, with estimated savings of 71 MWh annually.

Tapping the Potential of Alternative Energy Sources

Aside from drawing electricity from the grid, NEA's premises also make use of solar energy and electricity generated from waste incineration. In FY2020, the total electricity generated from solar and waste-to-energy incineration process was 678,636 MWh. The electricity generated is equivalent to the average annual electricity consumed by 159,754 Singapore households.

A total of 12 NEA-managed premises are currently under the WOG SolarNova programme, five of which are already commissioned. Beyond the WOG SolarNova programme are two additional premises installed with solar capacity. Five hawker centres, together with the existing solar photovoltaic systems at the Centre for Climate Research Singapore and Semakau Landfill, generated 624 MWh of electricity in FY2020.

Electricity generated from waste incineration adds to NEA’s pool of energy sources, powering the operations in the IPs and Tuas Marine Transfer Station (TMTS). Any excess energy from the waste-to-energy incineration process is sold to the grid. The amount sold to the grid in FY2020 was 527,807 MWh.

Reducing Corporate Carbon Footprint

Waste incineration is the main contributor to NEA’s corporate carbon footprint (Scope 1 carbon emissions). Since the 1970s, we incinerate waste in order to reduce waste volume and conserve landfill space in land-scarce Singapore. Today, all incinerable waste is incinerated while non-incinerable waste is landfilled. NEA is actively promoting the 3Rs to reduce waste generation and consequently, emissions.

With work from home arrangements being predominant for much of FY2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, NEA's electricity consumption at offices has fallen, leading to a 20.6 per cent decrease in Scope 2 carbon emissions in FY2020 as compared to FY2019.

We continue to encourage staff to take public transport or to car pool, where possible, to manage our Scope 3 emissions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of international events and official business visits fell tremendously – the decrease in overseas travel resulted in a steep drop in Scope 3 carbon emissions in FY2020. Local business travel remained relatively stable.

Promoting Water Conservation Within NEA

In FY2020, NEA’s installations consumed about 79.2 per cent of the organisation’s total water usage. Water consumption at NEA offices have fallen 32.3 per cent from FY2019 to FY2020 due to the greatly reduced occupant numbers as a result of predominantly work from home arrangements. In contrast, water consumption at NEA installations have remained relatively stable from FY2019 to FY2020 due to installation officers being unaffected by changes in working arrangements in order to maintain regular essential operations.

Dipping into Alternative Water Sources

NEA uses two alternative water sources other than PUB’s potable water at NEA’s installations – NEWater and rainwater.

NEA’s IPs consumed 319,177m³ of NEWater in FY2020, for purposes including general cleaning, cooling of hot ash, suppressing of dust and the production of demineralised water for boiler usage.

Reducing Waste Generation Within NEA

With limited land space for waste disposal, NEA is working to help extend the lifespan of Singapore’s only landfill by reducing our waste generation and increasing recycling.

The bulk of the waste generated comes from the offices¹⁴. In FY2020, 35 tonnes of non-recyclable waste are disposed of, similar to FY2019. To encourage staff to recycle, there are recycling bins in printing rooms and pantries at NEA Headquarters and in convenient locations at offsite premises. There are recycling bins for toner cartridges and e-waste at NEA Headquarters. In FY2020, NEA collected 7,115 kg recyclables consisting of paper (97.45 per cent), plastics (1.26 per cent) and metals (1.29 per cent).

To optimise paper usage and reduce wastage, we encourage staff to share or view documents digitally, and to print only when necessary. Since August 2014, NEA has also progressively replaced our existing printers with new printers that come with the print-count feature. This feature has enabled NEA to identify paper-intensive processes and look into digitalising some of these processes. Additionally, predominantly work from home arrangements for most of NEA's offices in FY2020 has resulted in overall print count falling by 37 per cent from FY2019 to FY2020.

Overseeing Biohazardous Waste Disposal

In FY2020, 63,840L of biohazardous waste was generated from laboratory work at the Environmental Health Institute. While this cannot be recycled, NEA has put in place strict disposal processes to prevent contamination of the environment. The biohazardous waste was stored in purpose- built waste bins before collection by licenced biohazardous waste collectors – Asia Medical Enviro Services Pte Ltd, Cramoil Singapore Pte Ltd and and NSL OilChem Waste Management in FY2020. The biohazardous waste was then transported to a dedicated incinerator for incineration.

^{[GRI 102-48]}

---

^[1] NEA’s installations include CCK Crematorium, Columbarium and Cemetery, Mandai Crematorium and Columbarium, Semakau Landfill, TMTS, Tuas IP and Tuas South IP. Consumption at NEA installations is largely dependent on public demand for NEA’s services
^[2] NEA’s corporate carbon footprint is calculated in accordance with the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard set by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and World Resources Institute. This is in line with the Revised 1996 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National GHG Inventories, which is used in Singapore’s international reporting to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The computations for GHG emissions from waste incineration at the Tuas IP and Tuas South IP are in accordance with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National GHG Inventories
^[3] Consumption at IPs is largely dependent on public demand for NEA’s services
^[4] Carbon emissions for NEA-owned vehicles is calculated based on amount of fuel (diesel and petrol) used. Diesel consumed by vehicles, equipment and marine vessels used at TMTS and Semakau Landfill were also included in the calculation of carbon emissions
^[5] Carbon emissions is calculated for LPG and Town Gas used at CCK Crematorium and Mandai Crematorium respectively. The emissions are impacted by factors beyond NEA’s control, such as the number of after-death services required. There was an increase in LPG usage at CCK Crematorium in FY2018 and FY2019 due to an increase in exhumation activities
^[6] FY2018 and FY2019 Scope 1 emission figures have been restated to 964,898 (from 988,560) and 876,098 (from 920,000) tonnes CO due to a correction in calculation methodology for LPG and Town Gas. The differences in the figures are five per cent or less. FY2018 and FY2019 LPG and Town Gas figures have been restated to 2,385 and 2,437 respectively [GRI 102-48]
^[7] Grid-average emissions factor data is used to calculate GHG emissions from electricity NEA purchased from the national grid. FY2019 carbon emissions is calculated based on 2018 electricity grid emission factors: 0.4188 kg CO2/kWh (www.ema.gov.sg/cmsmedia/Publications_and_Statistics/Statistics/18RSU.pdf). FY2020 figures are calculated based on 2019 electricity grid emission factors: 0.4085 kg CO2 /kWh (https://www.ema.gov.sg/cmsmedia/18RSU.pdf). There is no change in methodology from last cycle's report
^[8] The electricity consumed at Tuas South IP, Tuas IP and TMTS was excluded from the carbon emissions calculation, as the electricity used at these premises is self-generated. For Semakau Landfill, the electricity consumed was generated by diesel generators on the landfill. The diesel consumed by generators had been accounted for under Scope 1 – NEA-owned vehicles
^[9] Carbon emissions is calculated based on local business travel by staff vehicles, excluding the travel journeys of NEA staff to and from their homes. According to the Land Transport Authority, cars and motorcycles are fuelled by petrol with average motor vehicle fuel efficiency of 10.45 L/100 km (‘Singapore Land Transport Statistics in Brief’, 2009)
^[10] Carbon emissions factor and flight distance travelled in FY2019 and FY2020 are based on VITAL’s Overseas Travel Report, while calculations for FY2018 are based on www.icao.int/environmental-protection/CarbonOffset/Pages/default.aspx and www.gcmap.com. While there was a 16 per cent increase in air travel in FY2019, a higher carbon emissions factor was used in the FY2019 methodology – the average emissions factor in FY2019 was 0.11 kg/km as compared to 0.05 kg/km in FY2018. This was the main factor behind the increase in associated emissions from FY2018 to FY2019
^[11] Only carbon emissions from Scope 2 and 3 are included as NEA has greater control over the business processes reported under these two scopes. Scope 1 carbon emissions are highly dependent on the demand for NEA services, such as the number of after-death services required
^[12] Defined as the number of occupants, including the number of visitors, contractors and sub-contractors who had visited NEA’s premises
^[13] Carbon emissions intensity is derived as indirect carbon emissions (Scopes 2 and 3) per occupant
^[14] Waste data is compiled from four premises – Choa Chu Kang Crematorium, Columbarium and Cemetery, Western Regional Office at Albert Winsemius Lane, Semakau Landfill and TMTS