Sustainability – Strategic Competitive Advantage for SMEs in the New Normal

4 May 2022 – The Government unveiled the Singapore Green Plan 2030 on 10 Feb 2021, a “whole-of-nation movement” to advance the national agenda on sustainable development. The plan, which is spearheaded by the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of National Development (MND), the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE), the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry of Transport (MOT), charts Singapore’s green targets over the next ten years.

As part as ASPRI’s role to facilitate growth opportunities for our members, we were pleased to work with Oriel Group, to organise a webinar on Imperative Competitive Advantage for Business in the New Normal.

Mr. Wee Chin Chuan, Director of Oriel Group of Companies, started off by splitting his presentation into two segments, firstly on explaining what Sustainability is about, and secondly on ESG opportunities for SMEs. To define Sustainability in the layman term, Mr Wee shared on the 3”P”s as the guiding principle: People, Planet and Profit.

Next, Mr Wee shared more on the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) and how it acts as a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. He also talked about the outcome of the COP21 that was held in Paris, and Singapore’s commitment to COP26. This includes the Green Plan 2030, which aims to halve 2030 peak emission by 2050, and to reach net zero as soon as possible after that. To put the Carbon reduction plan into action, Singapore launched the Carbon Tax and Carbon Credits initiative.

 
Moving on to the second portion of the webinar, Mr Wee introduced on the opportunities for SMEs, which includes Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment’s speech on including “more sustainable requirements into tenders”. This includes a few case studies on the impact of SMEs, where companies shared on their increased effort towards sustainability.

Mr Wee then touched on two case studies; firstly, on SK Ecoplant’s ESG Strategy to go global and take initiative in solving environmental problems in Asia. The strategy includes taking om Environmental Projects, supplying new energy for energy transition, as well as a project collaboration with HSL Constructor to explore opportunities for fuel cell technology. The next case study is on the Sustainability Project in Tuas Nexus, Singapore called the Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF), where NEA has raised $1.65billion from maiden green bond to finance the agency’s development of sustainable waste management infrastructure.

To start the journey on sustainability, Mr Wee proposed five steps: Identify and list down stakeholders, Engage and discuss with stakeholders to identify and shortlist material topics, Tabulate the utility bills for the past 3 years, Evaluate top 10 suppliers’ ESG practises, and lastly, to frame the company’s ESG strategic plan. In the final segment, Mr Wee shared on the Government Grant and Incentives available to support SME’s sustainability initiatives.

 
To end off, Mr Wee stressed that members should not wait for their clients to tell them what to do before they start acting on it. Members must be fundamentally prepared for the Sustainability Road ahead.

ASPRI also invited Mr Danny Chua, Secretary of ASPRI 13th Executive Council to deliver the closing speech for the webinar. During his closing statement, Mr Chua seconded Mr Wee’s point and shared on some key initiatives that ASPRI will be spearheading to prepare our members for the future.

For more information, you may refer to the presentation slides here.

ASPRI would like to thank our members and Oriel Group for making this webinar possible. We hope to see you in future webinars!