IES celebrates 56th annual dinner with launch of Green Plan 2030

The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) today launched the IES Green Plan 2030 at its 56th Annual Dinner to spearhead initiatives in support of the government’s efforts to safeguard Singapore against the impact of climate change for our future generations. Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, was the guest of honour at the dinner.

The IES Green Plan 2030 is an initiative by IES, the national society of engineers in Singapore, to provide national-level institutional support to advance Singapore’s sustainable development imperative. It lays out concrete engineering-centric action plans from 2023 to 2030 to support the Singapore Green Plan 2030.

Guided by the Singapore Green Plan 2030, it is aimed at strengthening the nation’s engineering capabilities and capacities to develop sustainability solutions to mitigate the impact of climate change and public health threats by aligning with the five key pillars of the Singapore Green Plan 2030 – City in Nature, Energy Reset, Sustainable Living, Green Economy and Resilient Future.

The IES Green Plan focuses on harnessing engineering to strengthen Singapore’s commitments under the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and Paris Agreement. It will contribute to Singapore’s position to achieve our aspirations to reduce emissions to 60 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

With this plan, IES will supplement the Singapore Green Plan 2030’s goals, for instance, in promoting cleaner-energy vehicles by installing electric vehicle charging points at IES premises; and in building up capabilities for solar deployment by conducting training courses for engineers in solar photovoltaic technology.

A living action plan, the IES Green Plan 2030 is structured along a framework organised according to the stakeholder groups that IES  interacts with: Internal, National and International, with a strong emphasis on collaborative activities with partners.

The plan is also aimed at strengthening the position of IES to achieve its mission as the actionable voice of Singapore’s engineers. The formulation of the plan is built upon a refreshed vision arising from the IES Repositioning Study 2021 to address the grand challenges facing Singapore and to transform engineering and engineers in support of Singapore’s sustainability goals.

Focus: upskilling of engineers in sustainability space

A key element of the plan is to equip Singapore’s engineers sufficiently to create new possibilities and value opportunities for the society, economy and environment, thus capitalising on the ingenuity inherent in the discipline to make use of technology to facilitate Singapore’s transformation into a climate-resilient nation-state.

In support of the focus on upskilling engineers in this space, IES has partnered SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) to release the Jobs-Skills Quarterly Insights (JQSI) in conjunction with the launch of the IES Green Plan. The publication highlights a suite of green skills highly sought after by employers from engineers for work related to sustainable practices. The top identified skills are energy management and audit, environmental sustainability management and sustainable engineering.

JSQI also observed an emergence of newer “green” roles in areas such as solar PV engineer and energy sustainability, requiring engineers to be well-versed in skills for the development of evolving clean technologies, harnessing clean energy, managing environmental sustainability, as well as in Internet of Things application, programming & coding, and big data analytics.

With the support of SSG and other partners, IES will continue to empower engineers through continuous skills development as well as professional certification programmes such as the IES Chartered Engineering certification schemes, and courses offered by industry bodies and institutes of higher learning (IHLs).

With full commitment from government agencies, IHLs, professional associations and partners, IES aims to galvanise the engineering community to transform Singapore into a city of green possibilities with their expertise, knowledge and creative solutions.

“Climate change is an existential threat to humankind but acknowledging the need to act is not good enough. We must act immediately. As engineers, we can contribute to the goals set in the Singapore Green Plan with our engineering expertise, innovations and creative solutions. It is with this objective in mind that IES has taken the initiative to develop the IES Green Plan 2030 in support of Singapore’s sustainability journey. It is a bold, yet necessary plan to act as a springboard for future green initiatives and inspire more engineers to step forward to contribute towards Singapore’s ambitions of a green future,” said Mr Dalson Chung, President of IES.

Recognising exemplary engineering achievements

At the dinner, themed “Engineering for Sustainability”, IES conferred the title of IES Honorary Fellow on Mr Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, in recognition of his contributions in shaping the engineering profession and advancing the interests of IES. IES also conferred the IES Lifetime Engineering Achievement Award on Mr Seah Moon Ming, Chairman of SMRT Pte Ltd, for being an extraordinary leader and role model in engineering whose outstanding and sustained engineering contributions have immensely benefited the engineering industry and the community.

NTUC clinched the IES Outstanding Partner Award for its significant contributions to IES and for making a profound impact on the practice of engineering in Singapore.

The IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards were presented to the following engineering teams, in recognition of their contributions to engineering practice, environmental practicality, social impact and originality of their innovations:

• Use of Plastic Waste to Construct Durable Asphalt Pavement by Samwoh Innovation Centre and Singapore Polytechnic, supported by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the National Environment Agency (NEA)
• A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport Hangar by Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA)
• WaterfrontI&II@Northshore by Housing and Development Board (HDB)
• Tuas Port Phase 1 (TPP1): Reclamation, Wharf Construction & Dredging Project by Maritime & Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and Surbana Jurong Consultants Pte. Ltd. (SJC)
• HaptGlove – Wireless Pneumatic Glove for Multimode Haptic Feedback in the Metaverse by National University of Singapore (NUS)

Two outstanding students also received the IES-Yayasan Mendaki Scholarship award:

• Muhammad Nur Hazwan bin Mohamed Haron, Aircraft Systems Engineering, Singapore Institute of Technology
• Muhammad Raqib Rifai Bin Fadli, Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Singapore Polytechnic

About the Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES)

The Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES) was formally established in July 1966 as the national society of engineers in Singapore. IES is the premier engineering institution in Singapore and is called upon by the Government to provide feedback on professional engineering matters.

IES is well represented among the faculty members of major engineering institutions of higher learning in Singapore. Through close collaboration with local universities and polytechnics as well as the industry, IES organises courses, seminars and talks for engineers and IES members to advance the continuous development of engineers.

The Institution maintains close links with professional organisations of engineers regionally and throughout the world. These include organisations in Australia, China, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States. The Institution also represents Singapore in the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO), Asean Federation of Engineering Organisations (AFEO) and the Federation of Engineering Institutions of Asia and the Pacific (FEIAP) in promoting goodwill, fellowship and exchange of knowledge among all engineers in the region and internationally.

Through its Engineering Accreditation Board (EAB), IES obtained full signatory status in the Washington Accord (WA) in June 2006. The entry grants IES the authority to represent Singapore, the first country within the Asean region which has obtained full signatory status in the WA, to vet education systems under the WA mutual recognition framework.