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.

Guiding NEA’s Sustainability Journey

NEA’s core values are integral to our sustainability framework, which is shaped by four guiding principles.

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

Championing Sustainability through Governance

A robust sustainability governance structure is set up to drive sustainability within NEA, with senior management responsible for setting the sustainability direction and endorsing the sustainability initiatives.

All NEA directors are Sustainability Champions, meeting quarterly at the 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 more opportunities for staff to be involved in NEA’s sustainability journey.

Achieving WOG Sustainability Targets

Building on efforts taken under the previous Public Sector Taking the Lead in Environmental Sustainability initiative, the new GreenGov.SG initiative was launched in July 2021 as a key enabler of the Singapore Green Plan 2030. Under GreenGov.SG, the public sector has set new and more ambitious sustainability targets that include peaking its carbon emissions around 2025, reducing its energy and water consumption by 10 per cent by 2030 from the average of 2018 to 2020 levels, and reducing the amount of waste disposed of by 30 per cent by 2030 from 2022 levels. To achieve these GreenGov.SG targets, NEA continues to implement resource management measures for our facilities, such as office buildings, laboratories, and hawker centres.

Achieving the Green Mark

Under GreenGov.SG, all new public sector premises are to achieve at least Green Mark (GM) Platinum Super Low Energy (SLE) standards or equivalent, while all existing public sector premises are to achieve the GM Platinum SLE standards or equivalent upon the next major retrofitting. NEA has exceeded the minimum GM targets for many of our premises. These include Tiong Bahru Market and Choa Chu Kang Columbarium, which have attained the GM Platinum SLE and GM Platinum Positive Energy respectively due to measures such as good natural ventilation, energy-efficient lighting installation, and generation of on-site solar energy. Another 11 NEA premises, such as Marsiling Mall, Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre, and One Punggol Hawker Centre, have also attained GM Gold and above standards. NEA will strive to meet the more ambitious GM requirements when these buildings are due for retrofit works.

Reducing Corporate Carbon Footprint

Although waste incineration is the main contributor to NEA’s corporate carbon footprint, our Scope 1 emissions decreased by about 20 per cent compared to FY2020. This was attributed mainly to the scaling down of operations at Tuas Incineration Plant as it moved towards the eventual cessation of operations in February 2022. On the other hand, our Scope 2 carbon emissions remained comparable to FY2020.

We continue to encourage staff to take public transport or carpool where possible, to manage our Scope 3 emissions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the carbon emissions arising from overseas business travel in FY2021 remained low, due to the lower frequency of international events and official business visits as compared to pre-pandemic period. Local business travel remained relatively stable.

Conserving Resources Within NEA

NEA tracks our usage of electricity, water and paper, and encourages staff to reduce consumption of resources by adopting sustainability measures and practices. With the new set of sustainability targets under GreenGov.SG, NEA tracks the resource consumption using a new set of indices.

Overseeing Biohazardous Waste Disposal

In FY2021, 64,320 L of biohazardous waste was generated from EHI's laboratory work. While this could not be recycled, NEA has put in place strict disposal processes to prevent contaminating the environment. The biohazardous waste was stored in purpose-built waste bins before collection by licensed biohazardous waste collectors – Asia Medical Enviro Services Pte Ltd in FY2021. The biohazardous waste was then transported to a dedicated incinerator for incineration.

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^[1] 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 2006 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 Incineration Plant and Tuas South Incineration Plant are also in accordance with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National GHG Inventories
^[2] Consumption at incineration plants is largely dependent on public demand for NEA’s services
^[3] Carbon emissions for NEA-owned vehicles are calculated based on amount of fuel (diesel and petrol) used. Diesel consumed by vehicles, equipment and marine vessels used at Tuas Marine Transfer Station and Semakau Landfill were also included in the calculation of carbon emissions
^[4] Carbon emissions are calculated for LPG and Town Gas used at Choa Chu Kang Crematorium and Mandai Crematorium respectively. The emissions are impacted by factors beyond NEA’s control, such as the number of after-death services required
^[5] Grid-average emissions factor data is used to calculate GHG emissions from electricity NEA purchased from the national grid. FY2021 figures are calculated based on 2020 electricity grid emission factors: 0.4080 kg CO2 /kWh (www.ema.gov.sg/cmsmedia/Publications_and_Statistics/Statistics/18RSU.pdf)
^[6] The Scope 2 emissions for NEA office premises have been restated for FY2019 and FY2020 to 2,982 tonnes CO2 (from 2,000 tonnes CO2) and 2,844 tonnes CO2 (from 1,449 tonnes CO2) respectively to include the carbon emissions from data centres, laboratories, and the meteorological outstations at Changi and Seletar
^[7] The electricity consumed at Tuas South Incineration Plant, Tuas Incineration Plant and Tuas Marine Transfer Station 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
^[8] The Scope 2 emissions for NEA installations have been restated for FY2019 and FY2020 to 1,556 tonnes CO2 (from 1,545 tonne CO2) and 1,458 tonnes CO2 (from 1,364 tonnes CO2) respectively to include the carbon emissions from Yishun Columbarium
^[9] Carbon emissions were 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 arising from overseas business travel (flight only) are based on VITAL’s Overseas Travel Report
^[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] NEA’s installations include Choa Chu Kang Crematorium, Columbarium and Cemetery, Mandai Crematorium and Columbarium, Yishun Columbarium, Kranji State Cemetery, Semakau Landfill, Tuas Marine Transfer Station, Tuas Incineration Plant and Tuas South Incineration Plant. Consumption at NEA installations is largely dependent on public demand for NEA’s services
^[15] This refers to the electricity obtained from the national power grid
^[16] To align with the scope of the GreenGov.SG initiative, the electricity consumption figures for NEA offices in FY2019 and FY2020 have been restated to 7,091 MWh (from 4,776 MWh) and 6,961 MWh (from 3,548 MWh) respectively to include the electricity consumption at data centres, laboratories, and meteorological outstations at Changi and Seletar
^[17] The electricity consumed at two former NEA premises is not included in this figure as these two premises had been vacated in mid FY2019
^[18] The electricity consumption figures for NEA installations for FY2019 and FY2020 have been restated to 164,794 MWh (from 164,734 MWh) and 156,258 MWh (from 156,003 MWh) respectively to include the electricity consumption at Yishun Columbarium. The electricity consumption at Kranji State Cemetery was not included, as the energy consumption at this premises is attributed to street lights that are powered by solar panels
^[19] Based on 2019 average monthly electricity consumption for four-room households of 359.1 KWh/month (www.ema.gov.sg/cmsmedia/8RSU.xlsx)
^[20] To align with the scope of GreenGov.SG initiative, the water consumption figures for NEA offices for FY2019 and FY2020 have been restated to 26,190,000 L (from 25,428,000 L) and 19,259,000 L (from 17,208,000 L) respectively to include the water consumption at laboratories, and meteorological outstations at Changi and Seletar
^[21] The water consumption figures for NEA installations for FY2019 and FY2020 have been restated to 63,266,000 L (from 67,056,000 L) and 62,166,000 L (from 65,563,000 L) respectively to include the water consumption at Yishun Columbarium and Kranji State Cemetery
^[22] Based on Singapore’s annual household water consumption per capita of 141 L per day in 2019 (www.pub.gov.sg/watersupply/singaporewaterstory)
^[23] Waste data is compiled from five premises – Singapore Environment Institute at Lifelong Learning Institute, Choa Chu Kang Crematorium, Columbarium and Cemetery, Western Regional Office at Albert Winsemius Lane, Semakau Landfill and Tuas Marine Transfer Station
^[24] The amount of recyclables collected in FY2021 is significantly lesser than FY2020 due to a one-off recycling event of 3,910 kg of shredded paper in FY2020 at one of NEA’s off-site premises
^[25] The print count data for FY2021 is not reported due to replacement of printers at most of our premises between April and December 2021