2019 was a watershed year for climate policy in Singapore. During the annual National Day Rally speech of 2019, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called climate change “existential” and a “life and death [matter]” for Singapore, under which “everything else must bend at the knee” to safeguard the existence of the island nation.
In this issue we deep dive into Singapore’s latest changes in governance structure following the PM’s call, focusing particularly on the growing importance and influence of the National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS), the coordinating agency overseeing Singapore’s climate policy. We also take a broad look at the long-term low emissions development strategy just released in April 2020, which does not only outline Singapore’s approach to achieving its enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement, but also signifies the government’s new direction in its national development strategy.