Published 25 March 2025 –
‘Transforming Manufacturing for a Sustainable Tomorrow’ event, organised by DBS Bank and the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF), highlighted their latest landmark partnership and commitment to support 500 SMEs and mid-sized manufacturers in accelerating their green transition over the next two years.
With the manufacturing industry accounting for one-fifth of the world’s carbon emissions and 49% of Singapore’s primary Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, the need for manufacturing companies to ramp up on green efforts is more urgent than ever for climate targets to be met.
Government authorities are increasingly addressing carbon reduction challenges in the manufacturing sector, with a range of initiatives and grants such as the Economic Development Board’s Resource Efficiency Grant for Emissions (REG(E)), which encourages manufacturing companies and data centres to invest in projects that improve energy efficiency, and the Mandatory Packaging Reporting Framework (MPR) initiative by the National Environment Agency (NEA) to incentivise companies to reduce packaging usage.
This green transition is not only crucial to the environment but is also key to maintain long-term competitiveness and sustainable development of this industry.
A recent survey by SMF found that 91% of manufacturers find sustainability initiatives ‘essential’ for global competitiveness. However, with the industry’s extensive supply chains, high energy and resource consumption, a lack of industry benchmarks and resources, and complex sustainability regulations and standards, manufacturing companies find it challenging to effectively reduce their carbon footprint.
In line with these findings, the event included interactive breakout sessions and workshops where industry experts deep dived into topics such as carbon assessments, sustainable financing, regulatory frameworks, and circular economy strategies, providing hands-on guidance for manufacturing businesses.
ESGpedia was invited to hold a dedicated workshop with business leaders from manufacturing companies, where we shared our experiences and use cases in supporting manufacturing companies to meet rising demands, improve compliance, and advance on their sustainability goals.
Participants were engaged in live surveys to identify key sources of GHG emissions within their businesses, in alignment with ISO14064-1 standards. This interactive session also provided an opportunity for these key decision makers to discuss their sustainability challenges and pain points, while gaining a deeper understanding of how to seize and capitalise on sustainability opportunities.
Decarbonising the Manufacturing Industry
Decarbonising the manufacturing sector is a challenging task which calls for collective efforts and collaborative initiatives. With 34% of manufacturing companies expressing their intent to commence sustainability reporting within the next 1-3 years, the expansion of green finance and decarbonisation efforts is a clear trend taking over the manufacturing industry.
Key strategies the manufacturing industry is focusing on include:
- Creating a circular economy by reusing, recycling, and reducing the amount of materials used
- Reducing Scope 1 to 3 GHG emissions, including upstream or downstream supply chain emissions
- Renewable energy and energy efficiency
- Preventing pollution
- Sustainability reporting
- Sustainable finance
Key aspects of the DBS and SMF partnership, supported by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), are focused on training and upskilling through Queen Bee programmes, complementary sustainability programmes for a tailored transition, and sustainable financing to enable manufacturers to adopt sustainable materials and resource efficiency.
DBS will tap on its ESG Ready Programme, launched together with Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG), to aid businesses in developing sustainability roadmaps and access green financing solutions. Through the programme, EnterpriseSG will support 70% of the cost of eligible activities per company till 31 March 2026.
ESGpedia, an official technology partner of the DBS ESG Ready Programme, steps in to provide manufacturing companies with a one-stop sustainability digital platform to assist in calculating GHG emissions and establishing core ESG metrics, enabling compliance with regulatory requirements. With this streamlined partnership, businesses will be able to secure funding support, access preferential rates for sustainable financing, and build competitiveness.
This is especially crucial for resource-strapped SMEs in supply chains, helping them to develop short, medium, and long-term decarbonisation strategies and strengthen their sustainability reporting capabilities to increase their attractiveness to larger businesses.
The ESGpedia platform serves companies across the Asia Pacific region, providing a full suite of data-driven solutions to help corporates and SMES to attain their sustainability goals and achieve ESG excellence. This includes embarking on Scope 1 to 3 GHG emission calculations, comprehensive sustainability reporting in accordance with international and local standards, and decarbonisation solutions such as gaining access to sustainable finance and more.
Manufacturing businesses can also leverage the ESGpedia platform to actively engage their suppliers from data collection, to monitoring and analysing, to get visibility of their supply chain emissions and take actions to reduce their Scope 3 emissions.
By being early adopters of sustainability, companies can easily turn regulatory compliance into opportunities for added competitive advantage, enjoy cost-effective solutions and long-term savings, and future-proof their business amid an evolving market.
Contact us for a live demo of the ESGpedia platform, find out about available funding support through the DBS ESG Ready Programme and government grants, and kickstart your sustainability journey today.