Singapore has outlined the foundations of its first climate adaptation plan, a whole-of-government strategy to prepare the country for escalating climate risks ranging from extreme heat and flash floods to rising seas and threats to food and water security.
Announcing the plan during her ministry’s budget debate on 3 March, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu designated 2026 as Singapore’s ‘Year of Climate Adaptation’, signalling a shift in national attention toward preparing the low-lying country for intensifying climate impacts.
The full plan will be released next year. In the meantime, the government will launch focus group discussions and a public exhibition on the plan before its finalisation.
Fu warned that global climate action is faltering even as climate hazards intensify. Citing World Economic Forum estimates that climate-related losses could exceed US$1 trillion by 2050, she noted that geopolitical tensions and economic instability – including recent conflicts in the Middle East – risk pushing environmental priorities to the sidelines.
Resilience to heat, floods, rising seas
With temperatures expected to rise and humidity compounding health risks, heat stress has emerged as a key concern. Fu said the government will expand its network of heat sensors islandwide and deepen research to understand how heat affects both people and critical systems.
Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary revealed that a new Heat Resilience Policy Office has been established to drive this work. Housed under the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, the office brings together agencies from national development, health, manpower and social services to align research, set policy direction and represent Singapore in global heat discussions.
To strengthen flood resilience, the government will introduce multiple drainage improvement projects. These upgrades come amid heavier and more unpredictable rainfall patterns that have strained existing drainage systems in recent years.
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Plans merely state intentions, but indicators will reveal positive or negative impact.
Winston Chow, Professor of Urban Climate at Singapore Management University
Fu said a “continuous line of defence” is being developed to shield Singapore’s coast from rising seas – one of the country’s most existential climate threats. The average sea level for the city-state could rise by up to 1.15 metres by 2100, while storm surges and high tides could push water levels as high as 5 metres – nearly 30 per cent of Singapore sits within this elevation, according to Singapore’s third National Climate Change Study.
Singapore’s Parliament is set to debate a new Coastal Protection and Flood Resilience Bill, tabled in February, which will legally require landowners along the coastline to implement coastal defences to meet national protection standards.
Conceptual studies to protect the northwest coastline have been completed, with tidal gates to be replaced and dykes raised to safeguard reservoirs. Construction of these defences is expected from the mid-2030s.
To encourage community-led initiatives, the SG Eco Fund, a S$50 million (US$39 million) fund set up in 2020 to support sustainability projects, will broaden its eligibility criteria to include adaptation projects for the first time.
Commenting on the plan, Winston Chow, Professor of Urban Climate at Singapore Management University, said it was important to explore ecosystem-based measures in policies that preserve and integrate nature. He added that diverse communities should be included in planning efforts to protect the most vulnerable, such as outdoor workers.
Chow, who is also co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) working group on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, said that for the plan to be effective, metrics that assess the level of risk for water, food and energy systems were key.
He is currently working on developing global climate adaptation metrics for the IPCC at a meeting in Ghana which aims to assess the latest evidence on climate impacts and vulnerabilities, and update the IPCC’s technical guidelines on effective adaptation.
“These ‘key performance indicators’ will strengthen Singapore’s adaptation plan – as plans merely state intentions, but indicators will reveal positive or negative impact,” Chow said.
Addressing both mitigation and adaptation
The launch of Singapore’s climate adapation plans comes a month after its politicians observed broader shifts in the world towards adaptation efforts as global efforts to cut emissions waver.
Last month, Puthucheary said addressing climate change had become increasingly difficult given policy shifts such as the United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and its refocus on fossil fuels.
The prime minister signalled in his budget speech in February that Singapore could moderate the pace of future carbon tax increases on major polluters if global climate ambition continues to weaken, although the carbon levy is still being raised and plans to increase solar deployment and import more clean energy remain in place.
See Yong Feng, a campaigner with non-profit SG Climate Rally, said he was concerned that Singapore’s adaptation strategy continues to lean heavily on technology-driven solutions that align with economic growth, rather than nature-based measures. Secondary forests – which could provide natural cooling and flood protection – are instead being cleared for development, he noted.
Singapore’s draft adaptation plan emerges as Malaysia is hatching its own climate defence strategy, with a focus area being safeguarding national water resources, the country’s environment ministry said this week. Malaysia’s adaptation plan is expected to be published later this year.
Typhoon-prone Philippines is focused on disaster mitigation in its own adaptation strategy as it looks to reduce vulnerability to climate impacts over this decade. As a regional bloc, Asean is integrating adaptation requirements into its taxonomy to boost financial support for resilience projects.
