The Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the
Republic of Singapore have signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) to establish a bilateral Green Economy Framework. This
agreement, a first-of-its-kind for the UK, was signed during a
virtual call between the Department of Energy Security and Net
Zero’s (DESNZ) Secretary of State, The Rt MP, and Singapore’s
Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations from the Singapore’s
Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), Mr S Iswaran, on 1 March
2023.
Building on the successful UK-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and
Digital Economy Agreement, the innovative UK-Singapore Green
Economy Framework combines elements of climate, economic and
trade policy. This will enable both countries to achieve national
decarbonisation targets in alignment with the Paris Agreement
while enhancing energy security and promoting green growth
through new investment, job creation and export opportunities.
This collaboration will take place across three key pillars:
green transport, low carbon energy technologies, and sustainable
finance and carbon markets.
Expanding on the UK’s legacy of our successful COP26 Presidency,
and Singapore’s COP-honed expertise facilitating the negotiations
on international rules for carbon trading, the ambition of this
government-to-government agreement is to facilitate more
collaboration between UK and Singapore industry and academic
partners. This will result in new commercial pilot projects,
trade and investments, and research and innovation. The Framework
will be implemented through different mechanisms, including
government policy dialogues, business matchmaking, industry
workshops, and research partnerships.
Secretary of State for the Department for Energy Security
& Net Zero said:
The war in Ukraine has demonstrated the vital importance of
shoring up our energy security, and moves towards ever-greater
energy independence.
Today’s agreement with Singapore – the first of its kind in the
UK – will make the most of the expertise and innovation of both
our countries. It will help us move towards greener,
home-grown alternatives to fossil fuels like renewables, creating
high tech jobs and businesses of the future and, ultimately,
bringing down costs for consumers.
British High Commissioner to Singapore Kara Owen
said:
Today marks a very significant milestone for the UK-Singapore
partnership as we sign an innovative and real-world focused
UK-Singapore Green Economy Framework. The framework will help
both the UK and Singapore work towards their ambitious net zero
targets and contribute to the development of a vibrant green
economy private sector ecosystem that can have an impact beyond
our two shores.
In action, this Framework will leverage the UK and Singapore’s
strengths in areas like low carbon technology, shipping and
finance to deliver long-term sustainable policy, regulation and
technical solutions and projects between our private sector and
academic communities.
Singapore is an important partner to the UK in working towards a
sustainable and net zero future. With significant and
ever-growing investments in UK’s renewable energy sector, the
UK-Singapore Green Economy Framework will further strengthen our
existing, long-term collaboration by creating new growth
opportunities for both countries.
Find out more about the Green Economy Framework here
(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-economy-framework-memorandum-of-understanding)
