Singapore has launched a new public-private platform to help companies stay competitive as climate risks intensify and the economy shifts toward lower-carbon growth.
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The Council for a Competitive Climate Transition, or C3T, will be led by the National Climate Change Secretariat and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), and co-chaired by Singapore’s Ambassador for Climate Action Ravi Menon and SBF chief executive Kok Ping Soon.
Launching the initiative at the SBF Centre on Monday, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu noted that as Singapore transitions to a climate-impaired and carbon-constrained world, it is important that companies remain resilient, competitive and prepared.
“The Government recognises that this may be challenging, particularly for smaller firms that are resource constrained. Public-private partnership is therefore a critical way to support the industry to prepare for and reap opportunities from the green transition,” she said.
The new council will help businesses build capabilities in navigating the climate transition and provide a “structured space” for companies to provide feedback on and co-develop government-led climate initiatives such as the National Adaptation Plan, as well as sectoral transition plans that provide a blueprint for how businesses can plan ahead, respond and secure their longer-term competitiveness, said Fu.
Earlier last month, Fu had unveiled the foundations of Singapore’s 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.
The year 2026 has also been designated as Singapore’s ‘Year of Climate Adaptation’, signalling a shift in national attention toward preparing the low-lying country for intensifying climate impacts.
Speaking to some 100 business leaders attending the Post-COP30 dialogue in person, Fu urged businesses not to treat adaptation as a government exercise they observe from the sidelines.
“The private sector will need to include climate adaptation as part of their core business strategy,” she said.
“By conducting climate risk assessments, protecting workers, investing in infrastructure, diversifying supply chains, and insuring against climate hazards, companies can protect themselves from larger losses and reassure their investors.”
Companies must also develop climate-specific business continuity plans to manage risks like flooding and heat impacts on operations, she added.
Geopolitics and climate
With oil trading above US$110 a barrel and the war in Iran keeping the Straits of Hormuz closed, Singapore’s climate envoy emphasised that climate action matters more, not less, in a world on fire.
“The current geopolitical situation does not weaken the case for climate action. If anything, it strengthens it,” said Menon. “It has shown the vulnerabilities involved in excessive dependence on the oil and gas energy system. Globally, there are high concentration risks and we need to find ways to overcome that. And renewables and energy efficiency improvements are obvious measures for the long term.”
While acknowledging that such measures offer limited relief in the immediate term, he emphasised that over the medium to long term, they would provide resilience to climate and energy shocks.
Menon added the council would avoid duplicating current work already being done, by “building on existing efforts”, which are mostly sectoral based, and by bringing businesses and government together.
The council will also focus on co-creating solutions that will help with implementation, such as in the data or infrastructure areas, he said.
For all the progress Singapore has made, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have long cited a common obstacle: too little accessible, actionable data to make informed transition decisions.
C3T is designed, in part, to tackle exactly that. “Transition planning is not easy. There are too many unknowns, too little data, too few levers for action,” observed Menon.
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“The current geopolitical situation does not weaken the case for climate action. If anything, it strengthens it.”
Ravi Menon, Singapore Ambassador for Climate Action
The Council’s mandate will encompass various functions – it will help align sectoral transition policies with on-the-ground business realities by co-developing implementation solutions for national initiatives such as Sectoral Transition Plans and Singapore’s forthcoming National Adaptation Plan (NAP).
It will work to aggregate and share climate-related data, and build the tools and frameworks companies need to interpret it. And it will look to unlock enterprise value for businesses that take climate action – through mechanisms such as green finance access and sustainable procurement, he added.
Menon added that the council is not adding “another compliance layer”.
“C3T is not about telling companies what to do. It is about helping companies do what they already know they must do. Not by adding requirements, but by reducing frictions. Not compliance, but competitiveness. Not fragmented efforts, but shared solutions,” he said.
SBF’s Kok added that adaptation is becoming a “baseline requirement for competitiveness” as disruptions increasingly affect operations, supply reliability and investment decisions. The association said the council follows its Budget 2026 recommendation to strengthen coordinated support for businesses undertaking the green transition, to respond to growing industry demand for practical, business‑relevant approaches to seize new climate-related opportunities and manage climate risks.
The event also saw SBF and Maybank Singapore sign an MOU to collaborate on internationalisation and sustainability initiatives for local businesses. Representatives from KPMG, ESGpedia, Sustainability Alliance Singapore and Maybank Singapore, also discussed COP30 outcomes, climate adaptation and Singapore’s NAP.
When asked by Eco-Business what success for the council looks like, Menon replied: “That every company, every business has a credible and viable transition plan in terms of how they’re going to be managing their climate related risks and in terms of how they are going to transition their business to become more competitive in a carbon constrained world.”
