Singapore’s green building ambitions are entering a new phase—powered by digital twins, artificial intelligence, and rising stakeholder expectations. A new joint study by Schneider Electric and the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) finds that businesses are seeing measurable returns from green technologies, signalling new momentum for smart, sustainable infrastructure across Southeast Asia’s built environment.
Singapore’s green building sector is gaining fresh momentum, with a new study by Schneider Electric and the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) revealing that advanced technologies such as digital twins and AI are driving substantial cost and energy savings.
Over 500 senior business leaders were surveyed, with a fifth of them reporting cost reductions of 30% to 49% from using digital twin and AI technologies in their facilities. Energy savings of up to 20% were also recorded across the board over the past 12 months, underscoring growing confidence in scalable smart building solutions.
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The findings suggest that digitalisation and sustainability are converging in Singapore’s built environment in a trend with significant implications for automation providers, industrial systems integrators, and facility managers across Southeast Asia.
The shift comes as Singapore aims to green 80% of its building stock by gross floor area by 2030 under its Green Building Masterplan. While energy efficiency remains a key motivator, the study also highlighted new drivers: employee expectations and regulatory pressure. Notably, 8% of business leaders cited employee demand as a reason for adopting green building technologies, up from just 3% in 2023, while regulatory drivers rose to 10% from 2%, coinciding with the rollout of the Mandatory Energy Improvement (MEI) regime this quarter.
The MEI regime, which applies to energy-intensive buildings larger than 5,000 sqm, mandates audits and energy improvement plans. It’s already reshaping capex strategies in sectors like industrial estates, logistics hubs, and commercial buildings, where energy management platforms and retrofit solutions are in high demand.
Yoon Young Kim, Cluster President, Singapore and Brunei, Schneider Electric, said: “Singapore’s embrace of digital green building solutions has positive implications for our progress towards national net zero targets, as such solutions are highly scalable. As evidenced by our study, the environmental benefits of technological progress are real and significant. As a responsible member of the private sector, we look forward to contributing towards this green journey.”
Allen Ang, President, Singapore Green Building Council, added, “This survey reaffirms industry support for green building implementation. In the face of current headwinds, we believe green building adoption rates can be sustained and even increased by continuing momentum in green building regulation. Progressive upgrades to building standards should also be accompanied by targeted incentives that encourage retrofitting of older buildings, allowing Singapore to hit its 2030 targets.”
For industrial automation stakeholders, the study signals an opportunity in integrating energy-efficient HVAC systems, IoT-enabled energy analytics, and green-certified materials into new and existing builds.
As smart infrastructure takes centre stage, Singapore’s model could shape similar policy shifts across Southeast Asia—particularly in high-density urban centres like Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Bangkok, where sustainability is climbing the business agenda.
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