Singapore’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) will allocate S$2.1 billion (US$1.63 billion) in green bond proceeds to fund capital expenditure for the city-state’s Jurong Region Line (JRL) and Cross Island Line (CRL) in financial year (FY) 2023, according to a recent report.
The allocated amount, states the second edition of the Singapore Green Bond Report, comes from two tranches of green bonds – S$1.7 billion from the initial tranche issued in August 2022 and S$0.4 billion from a re-opened tranche in September 2023. The funds are a crucial part of Singapore's ongoing efforts to meet its sustainability and net-zero targets.
The overall issuance size of the 50-year Green Singapore Government Securities (Infrastructure) bond was S$2.8 billion, with the remaining unallocated proceeds expected to be fully deployed by the end of FY2025.
The city-state’s second minister for finance and national development and the chair of the Green Bond Steering Committee Indranee Rajah highlights the importance of the Green Bond Framework, stating it is a key pillar of the country’s sustainability efforts, helping to drive investment into infrastructure projects designed to support the Singapore Green Plan 2030.
The JRL and CRL projects are integral to Singapore’s goal of achieving a 75% mass public transport modal share, aligning with its target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
The environmental impact of these projects is significant, with an estimated carbon-dioxide (CO2) savings of 100,000 to 120,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent annually once the rail lines are fully operational. This reduction equates to removing over 22,000 cars from Singapore’s roads and represents an 81% drop in emissions compared with the baseline scenario.
The MoF says it has continued to use the methodology developed by Morningstar Sustainalytics to measure the environmental benefits of green bond-financed projects, ensuring transparency in both allocation and impact.