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First of all, a big welcome to all of you, experts on green standards from all over the world. It is Singapore’s privilege to have you here. I’m very happy to be given this opportunity to join you at the Sustainable Procurement Forum.
Today’s discussions focus on how ecolabels can transform markets, strengthen competitiveness and facilitate green trade through greater trust and transparency.
At its heart, sustainable procurement is about making responsible choices: choosing products with better environmental performance, and procuring from responsible producers that abide by the law and take responsibility for the environmental impact of their operations and supply chains.
Sustainability considerations increasingly influence procurement decisions and access to markets.
Credible standards and ecolabels help businesses demonstrate their environmental performance. They also give procuring organisations and consumers trusted information to make informed choices.
In Singapore, the Singapore Environment Council advances this work through the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme. The scheme helps buyers identify products that meet environmental standards, while enabling responsible businesses to demonstrate their environmental credentials. Ecolabels can also support responsible sourcing and sustainable forestry, helping to address environmental challenges throughout supply chains.
The recent transboundary haze is a timely example. The haze is preventable and unacceptable. Companies must take responsibility for the environmental impact of their operations and supply chains.
While ecolabels and green procurement can reinforce responsible behaviour by creating market demand for products that are produced sustainably, credible standards must be backed by evidence and accountability.
Certification cannot be a one-off exercise. Schemes need to ensure that certified companies continue to uphold the environmental standards expected of them.
During the recent haze, the Singapore Environment Council stepped up monitoring under SGLS+, including through additional reporting and supply-chain checks, with certification potentially suspended if the required measures are not demonstrated.
Last week, SEC issued a Notice of Temporary Restrictions on SGLS+ Certification to Asia Pulp & Paper, requiring daily fire response reporting and stricter monitoring of fire prevention and suppression measures across three supplier concessions in South Sumatra.
This demonstrates the role that credible certification schemes can play in holding companies to the environmental standards they profess to meet.
The Government is also taking firm actions. Whether companies are based overseas or registered in Singapore, we will follow the evidence and take errant companies to task where the evidence supports it.
NEA has sent Preventive Measure Notices under Section 9 of the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act to ten companies in Indonesia that may have contributed to haze in Singapore, requiring them to fight the fires, stop the burning and prevent recurrence.
NEA is also seeking information from these companies regarding the occurrence of fires in their concessions, measures taken to put out these fires, as well as the companies’ linkages with associated companies, including those in Singapore.
We are also looking closer to home. On 23 October, NEA took the further step of serving Section 10 notices on Singapore-registered companies in the palm oil or forestry business that have land concessions in Indonesia, or have related companies with such concessions, requiring them to provide information on their corporate linkages, concession locations and measures taken to prevent and fight fires.
There is an important distinction. Section 9 is aimed at getting companies to take preventive action against the fires. Section 10 helps us gather the information and evidence needed for our investigations.
But enforcing the law across borders presents two practical challenges: gathering the evidence we need, and securing cooperation from companies outside Singapore.
The first challenge is ensuring that overseas companies cooperate with our investigations.
Section 10 notices help us obtain information needed to establish the facts and trace relevant corporate linkages. But there are practical challenges in applying these powers against companies located overseas.
First, serving the notice itself can be difficult. Under international law, we cannot simply exercise Singapore’s enforcement powers in another jurisdiction.
Second, even if a notice is served, enforcement can remain difficult if an overseas company refuses to comply and none of its officers enter Singapore.
Cooperation is therefore important. But our enforcement framework should not allow a company to frustrate an investigation simply by refusing to cooperate or remaining outside Singapore.
For example, we have consistently expressed openness to working with Indonesian authorities who share our common objective of holding responsible companies accountable. This posture, position will not and has not changed, even as we press ahead to make adjustments.
The second challenge is gathering and verifying evidence across borders.
Investigating transboundary haze is inherently difficult because the fires occur outside Singapore, and much of the evidence needed to establish responsibility is located overseas.
Establishing that a fire occurred is only one part of the picture. We also need to establish the relevant corporate and operational links, including who owns or controls the land, the relationships between different companies, and what steps were taken to prevent and fight the fires.
Corporate structures, operations and supply chains can span multiple jurisdictions. The necessary information may therefore be located overseas, making it difficult for Singapore authorities to obtain.
Even where information or documents are provided by an overseas company, independently verifying them can be difficult. Singapore authorities cannot simply enter another jurisdiction to conduct investigations or gather evidence.
The Government has announced a Specialist Panel comprising law, audit and investigative firms to support cross-border inquiries into identified companies’ operations, corporate relationships and supply chains.
We are examining the adequacy of our existing Transboundary Haze Pollution Act and are looking to strengthen existing legislation, including the THPA, and will make amendments or introduce new laws where necessary.
The objective is to address enforcement gaps, strengthen corporate accountability, and enhance our ability to investigate and take decisive action against those responsible for transboundary haze.
Where our laws need to be strengthened, we will strengthen them.
We are also prepared to use a wider range of legal, regulatory and economic measures.
Where parties responsible for the haze have interests in Singapore, there are other ways in which scrutiny can be brought to bear.
These include legal and regulatory measures, as well as the scrutiny of investors, financiers and the market.
The increased scrutiny has already prompted companies to respond publicly and set out their positions.
The broader point is that companies are accountable not only to regulators. Investors, financiers, customers and the wider public increasingly expect companies to demonstrate responsible environmental practices.
This brings us back to the purpose of sustainable procurement. It is not only about whether a product carries the right label. It is about whether the product has been responsibly produced, and whether the producer abides by the law and can be held accountable for its environmental impact.
Ecolabels provide buyers with trusted information. Sustainable procurement directs demand towards responsible producers. Effective regulation ensures that companies are held accountable when environmental harm occurs.
Together, these measures build the trust and transparency needed to transform markets and facilitate green trade. By using our purchasing decisions to support responsible producers, we can encourage better business practices, protect the environment and strengthen the credibility of sustainable products. Thank you.
