Singapore-Australia Green Economy Agreement Progress on Implementation

March 2024

Further progress has been made on implementing the 17 initiatives listed as annexes in the GEA. Implementation highlights include:

1. Green shipping cooperation (Annex B4.2):
   1. Australia's Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon Catherine King MP and Singapore's Minister for Transport, Mr CHEE Hong Tat signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalise cooperation that will see the establishment of a Green and Digital Shipping Corridor (GDSC) between Singapore and Australia by the end of 2025.
   2. The MOU will facilitate activities to decarbonise and digitise shipping between Australia and Singapore, including by: developing joint supply chains for low-carbon fuels, supporting training programs for fuel handling, and leveraging digital technologies to optimise port activities.
   3. As convening authorities, the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Australian Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (DITRDCA) are continuing discussions with Australian state and territory governments, port authorities and operators to develop the GDSC - see Singapore-Australia Green and Digital Shipping Corridor Factsheet.
2. Go-Green Co-Innovation Program( Annex B6.1):
   1. An initial group of companies have been awarded grants under the joint Australia-Singapore $20 million program to co-innovate and develop products and services that drive growth in green sectors.
   2. A second grant round is expected, with a call for applications likely to be announced in mid-2024. For more information, contact ggcip@dfat.gov.au
3. Cross-border electricity trade (Annex B4.1)
   1. Australia and Singapore jointly formulated and adopted a set of ten principles aimed at guiding the development of the architecture that will support cross-border electricity trade,
   2. Once established, the architecture will facilitate trade and investment in the renewable electricity market, including by providing business and investors clarity and certainty surrounding the rules underpinning this trade.
4. Developments on Other GEA Initiatives
   1. In support of the GEA's work on establishing the Green and Digital Shipping Corridor, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) released the Australia-Singapore Initiative on Low-Emissions Technologies (ASLET) for Maritime and Port Operations Report, which provides an assessment of the challenges and solutions in decarbonising the shipping industry (Annex B4.2).
   2. Skills, training and employment agencies in both countries are continuing to exchange information on policies, programs and measures that support the effective transition of the workforce to a green economy. The second Green Skills Roundtable (Annex B5.1) is expected to take place in June 2024 and will involve engagements with business stakeholders and training providers to support the acceleration of green skills and capability development across various industry sectors.
   3. Under the Green and Transition Finance initiative (Annex B3.1), finance officials are continuing to exchange knowledge and expertise on green finance taxonomies to provide credibility and certainty that will drive green investment.
   4. Three projects were funded in round 1 of the Asia Climate Solutions (ACS) grant. The second funding window for additional projects closed on 12 February 2024. ACS is funded jointly by Singapore and Australia to support the region's transition to net zero.
   5. Research partnerships to advance green economy sectors are underway, led by CSIRO and Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) (Annex B4.4). A new grant titled ‘Innovations in Food for Sustainability' and the second grant round for ‘CSIRO - A*STAR Research-Industry 2+2 Partnerships' are expected to open for application soon.
   6. Statistical agencies are collaborating on collecting and compiling environmental-economic data needed to measure the green economy (Annex B6.4).
   7. Industry consultations have taken place on the current Environmental goods and services (Annex B1.1 and Annex B1.2) lists to ensure they remain fit for purpose and to identify ongoing barriers to trade.
   8. Officials are exchanging information on specific sectoral sustainability schemes and working to finalise a joint eco-labelling scheme as part of our ecolabelling and sustainability related schemes (Annex B6.3):
   9. Australia and Singapore jointly presented to the WTO to share expertise and promote broader adoption of environmentally sustainable government procurement practices (Annex B1.5).
   10. Australia and Singapore engaged in ongoing promotion of the GEA as a model for green economy cooperation, including at the World Trade Organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
   11. Under the Austrade and Enterprise Singapore Green Business Partnership (Annex B6.2) agencies, to date, have jointly delivered 14 targeted initiatives and networking receptions for private and public stakeholders to facilitate potential partnerships, including in the hydrogen and agri-food tech sectors.

June 2023

Progress has been made on implementing the 17 initiatives listed as annexes in the GEA. Implementation highlights include:

1. Environmental goods and services (Annexes B1.1 and Annexes B1.2): agreement to commence industry consultations, in the second half of this year, to inform the periodic review of the GEA's environmental goods and services lists, which will account for technical and technological advances and enable new environmental goods and services to be added.
2. Environmentally sustainable government procurement including ecolabelling and sustainability related schemes (Annexes B1.5 and Annexes B6.3): environment officials have met twice through a six-monthly bilateral dialogue to pursue areas of common interest including related to best practice ecolabelling, preventing greenwashing and government reporting on environmental sustainability.
3. Green and transition finance (Annex B3.1):
   1. Prime Minister Albanese and Singapore's Acting Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced on 2 June the launch of the $5 million Asia Climate Solutions Design Grant, a public-private climate finance mechanism co-funded by Singapore and Australia, to support countries in the region to transition to net zero emissions by developing projects in renewable energy, sustainable cities, and nature-based solutions. Further information is available on the Convergence website.
   2. finance officials are exchanging knowledge, expertise, and approaches to the development of green finance taxonomies, to build greater alignment of sustainable financial frameworks and support and drive investment in clean energy projects in Australia and Singapore.
4. Cross-border electricity trade (Annex B4.1): a joint working group has been established and is considering a range of issues to develop the architecture to enable cross-border electricity trade between Australia and Singapore.
5. Green shipping cooperation (Annex B4.2): Prime Minister Albanese and Singapore's Acting Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced on 2 June that Australia and Singapore agreed to establish a Green and Digital Shipping Corridor by the end 2025 to help decarbonise and digitalise the port and shipping industry. Further information is available on the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts website.
6. CSIRO-A*STAR cooperation (Annex B4.4): a research-industry partnership, with funding of $2.5 million over a five-year period from each side, is advancing projects including related to lithium battery recycling and food waste.
7. Green skills roundtable (Annex B5.1): skills, training and employment agencies from Australia and Singapore held their inaugural roundtable in May 2023 to share approaches and policies on developing the necessary skills and capabilities required in a green economy workforce.
8. Go-Green Co-Innovation Program (Annex B6.1):
   1. Prime Minister Albanese and Singapore's Acting Prime Minister Lawrence Wong launched this joint $20 million program which will provide grants to support collaboration between Singaporean and Australian small and medium enterprises to develop green growth business opportunities
   2. the Program will commence with Austrade and Enterprise Singapore conducting business matching activities in the lead up to grant applications opening later in 2023.
9. Austrade and Enterprise Singapore Green Business Partnership (Annex B6.2): agencies, to date, have jointly delivered eight targeted initiatives and networking receptions for private and public stakeholders to facilitate potential partnerships, including in the hydrogen and agri-food tech sectors. Trade and investment opportunities have been highlighted at these industry events, including the Melbourne All Energy in October 2022 and dedicated GEA-event in Singapore in November 2022.
10. Measuring the green economy (Annex B6.4): Australian and Singaporean statistical agencies have held six technical working group meetings. Implementation of their two-year work plan is building joint capacity in the collection and compilation of data needed to measure the green economy.

Download the June GEA Implementation Update for further details.