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Twenty Years of Greening Buildings In Singapore Results In Annual Energy Savings That Can Power One Million 4-Room HDB Flats Per Year
11 July 2025
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Friday, 11 July 2025
- Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) celebrate two decades of Singapore’s Green Building journey with significant achievements.
- Public consultation will take place for the Built Environment Decarbonisation Technology Roadmap to chart the path forward for meeting sustainability goals for the built environment.
- A new technical reference for hybrid cooling is launched to accelerate the deployment of hybrid cooling systems in buildings.
- World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) and OCBC publish Insights Report to align Asia Pacific Green Building Rating Tools to the ASEAN Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance.
Singapore, 11 July 2025 – Singapore marked a significant milestone in its green building journey at the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC)’s Gala Dinner, with Minister for National Development, Mr Chee Hong Tat, lauding the achievements of the BCA Green Mark certification scheme, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary.
Two Decades of Green Building Excellence
2 The BCA Green Mark certification scheme was launched 20 years ago by BCA with just 17 certified buildings in 2005; Singapore now boasts 2,590 Green Mark-certified buildings as of March 2025. These green buildings collectively save over 4.2 billion kWh energy annually – equivalent to powering 1 million 4-room HDB flats and S$1.3 billion in cost savings per year. The carbon emissions offset by these buildings are equivalent to replanting a forest more than 13 times the size of Singapore (refer to Annex A for achievements on greening the built environment).
3 Singapore's green building expertise has also gained international recognition. Local sustainability consultants such as G-Energy Global and GreenA Consultants have successfully globalised their expertise, with notable achievements including Wisma BCA Foresta, HQ of PT Bank Central Asia Tbk, Indonesia's first Green Mark Super Low Energy (SLE) certified building, and Sobha One in Dubai, a new premium luxury condominium estate that is the Middle East's first Green Mark Platinum SLE development.
4 To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the BCA Green Mark certification scheme, BCA and SGBC are recognising the significant support and contributions of 20 firms and building projects to Singapore’s green building journey (Refer to Annex B for more details).
Economic and Social Benefits of Green Buildings
5 The business case for BCA Green Mark certification has been proven in Singapore. New commercial buildings with the highest Green Mark Super Low Energy certification can recover their sustainability investments in about 5 to 6 years[1], while achieving average energy savings of 59%. Recent market analysis by Cushman and Wakefield[2] also showed that Green Mark-certified buildings in the CBD commanded premium rents up to 12% higher than non-Green Mark-certified properties, with consistently higher occupancy rates.
6 The benefits of Green Mark buildings extend well beyond financial returns, delivering significant improvements to health and wellbeing of occupants. Joint research[3] by BCA and the National University of Singapore also showed that these Green Mark-certified buildings maintain superior indoor environmental conditions, with lower concentrations of pollutants and significantly fewer reported health-related symptoms among occupants. These findings underscore the BCA Green Mark certification scheme's role in creating not just environmentally sustainable, but also healthier workspaces for Singapore's workforce (refer to Annex A for more details).
Bridging Green Buildings with Sustainable Finance
7 At the Dinner, Minister Chee also announced the publication of an Insights Report that aims to bridge the gap between green buildings and sustainable finance in the Asia Pacific region. This is the first in a new series of regional publications developed to support the transition towards a more sustainable, circular, and resilient built environment across Asia Pacific.
8 Led by the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), with strong support from OCBC and Asia Pacific green building councils including SGBC, the Report offers a concise yet strategic overview of the current state of readiness across the sector, presenting key messages and early observations drawn from multi-stakeholder engagement, regional data, and global trends. The Report highlights the urgent need for systemic change in how we design, build, use, and recover building materials, and identifies the policy, industry, and financial levers that can help accelerate this transition. Together, the three-part publication suite will form a common reference point for policymakers and market actors, supporting more coherent action, investment alignment, and measurable progress across the Built Environment sector.
9 “As we celebrate the BCA Green Mark certification scheme’s 20th anniversary, this new series of publications represent the next frontier in our green building journey,” Mr Allen Ang, President of SGBC, said. “Singapore's two decades of experience in greening the built environment has laid a strong foundation for this regional initiative. By analysing regional data and global trends, we've identified critical policy, industry and financial levers to accelerate the transition to circular, low-carbon construction. These findings will serve as a vital reference point to align investments and drive measurable progress across Asia Pacific, building on the success we've achieved with BCA Green Mark.” (refer to Annex C for more details on the guide).
Charting the Path Forward for Decarbonising the Built Environment
10 To chart the path for Singapore’s next set of decarbonisation goals beyond 2030, Minister Chee also announced the development of an updated Built Environment Decarbonisation Technology Roadmap, outlining key emerging technologies and areas for research and development to improve energy efficiency in Singapore's built environment. Building upon the foundations of the SLE Building Technology Roadmap launched in 2018, this latest development will identify crucial technologies and implementation timelines that will enable the sector to meet its sustainability goals. It will undergo public consultation to gather insights from industry stakeholders and members of the public before it is launched (refer to Annex D for more details).
11 Complementing the roadmap, BCA has also launched a new technical reference for hybrid cooling, which aims to accelerate the deployment of hybrid cooling systems by providing comprehensive guidelines for the implementation of energy-efficient cooling systems in buildings. This reference will help building owners and developers adopt more sustainable cooling solutions, especially in the context of Singapore's tropical climate (refer to Annex E for more details).
12 Mr Tan Chee Kiat, Deputy CEO for Industry Development at BCA, said, "The BCA Green Mark certification scheme has evolved from a pioneering initiative to evaluate a building’s environment impact and performance to become Singapore's hallmark of championing sustainable building excellence. As we mark this milestone, we urge developers and building owners to aim higher – be it achieving Green Mark Super Low Energy certification for new projects or upgrading existing buildings to higher standards. BCA will continue supporting the industry in charting the way forward. The future is about green real estate, and there has never been a better time to invest in sustainability."
Issued by the Building and Construction Authority and Singapore Green Building Council on 11 July 2025
Download the PDF version of the factsheets here. [PDF, 324 KB]
Annex A: Factsheet on 20 years of greening Singapore’s built environment
Annex B: Recipients of GM 20th anniversary commemorative certificate
Annex C: Factsheet on Aligning Asia Pacific Green Building Rating Tools to the ASEAN Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance Publication Series
Annex D: Factsheet on Built Environment Decarbonisation Technology Roadmap
Annex E: Factsheet on Technical Reference for Hybrid Cooling
About BCA
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) champions the development and transformation of the Built Environment sector, in order to improve Singapore’s living environment. BCA oversees areas such as safety, quality, inclusiveness, sustainability and productivity, all of which, together with our stakeholders and industry partners, help to achieve our mission to transform the Built Environment sector and shape a liveable and smart built environment for Singapore. For more information, visit www1.bca.gov.sg
About SGBC
The Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) enables sustainability across the building and construction value chain, championing capability development and innovative solutions that support industry transformation through our membership, certification, and outreach programmes. The repository of proven green building solutions helps to enable green procurement in the industry, profiling leading and innovative solutions that go towards building a greener, healthier built environment. Together with a growing pool of industry-recognised Green Mark Accredited Professionals, SGBC addresses every touchpoint of the green building ecosystem.
[1] From Green Mark submissions database
[2] https://www.cbre.com/insights/reports/decarbonising-asia-pacific-s-office-buildings
[3] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ina.12515