Some 200 business, including hotels, dining establishments, attractions, and the marina club and golf club are joining the island's carbon-neutral plan. Photo Credit: Getty Images/Photon-Photos
Singapore's mission to become Asia's greenest city has taken a leap forward, with Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) this month laying out plans to transform the island into a carbon-neutral destination by 2030.
This is good news for event planners looking to address the carbon footprint of their meetings (a rising concern pre-Covid), as Sentosa is home to several business hotels, the Resorts World Sentosa Convention Centre, an several unique meeting spaces, including Universal Studios Singapore and the S.E.A. Aquarium.
Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing made the announcement in Parliament on 4 March, stressing that this is part of the Lion City's long-term strategy to capture opportunities in the green economy.
"Ten years from now, we expect that global tourism will have sprung back into a more vibrant sector. [Travellers] will have a greater interest in sustainable travel options, for example, eco-friendly hotels and attractions. Through [Sentosa], we will strengthen Singapore as an exemplary sustainable tourism destination."
"Sustainability is a key priority and integral design principle in SDC’s journey to create great guest experiences and safeguard Sentosa’s value proposition for generations to come," said SDC chief executive Thien Kwee Eng.
In fact, some businesses believe sustainable events will be more pertinent than ever post Covid, and even translate to cost savings.
SDC and Temasek have signed an MOU to, among other things, identify opportunities to test solutions to lower the island's carbon footprint.With the latest MoU inked between SDC and state investor Temasek in December 2020, the sustainability pact will testbed more sustainable technology concepts and solutions in Sentosa, while some 200 businesses on the island, including hotels, restaurants, attractions as well as the marina club and golf club, will also come on board the carbon mitigation and abatement efforts.
Among them is Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa, which is "focused on reducing our carbon footprint through investments in smart design to reduce the consumption of energy, and tapping on alternative sustainable energy sources such as solar-powered air-conditioning," said the hotel's general manager, Gavin Weightman.
These solutions are expected to leverage smart infrastructure to first detect and analyse energy usage, before using the data to engage users and influence consumption patterns, with the goal of reducing wastage.
The SDC and Temasek agreement will also explore new ways to deploy cooling solutions on Sentosa island and close the waste loop entering Singapore’s incineration plants. Travel options on the island destination will also progressively go green.
Sentosa's green plan is already years in the making. In 2019, Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) chief executive Keith Tan made mention of an innovation scheme to attract new technologies, ideas and concepts to Sentosa to improve areas such as accessibility, tourism experiences, sustainability and digital technologies.
There's also the ongoing development of the 30,000-sqm Sentosa Sensoryscape, connecting the integrated resort Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) in the north to the island’s beaches in the south. The redeveloped district will feature break-out spaces and open park spaces, delivering unique experiences across five zones.
Along with Sentosa, several players in Singapore have taken recent steps to boost sustainability efforts. These include Mandarin Oriental Group's 'Meeting with Purpose' initiative, which includes CSR activities with local communities; and new green meeting packages at Parkroyal Collection hotels in Singapore.
Source: Travel Weekly Asia