What does the Singapore Chemical Industry Council (SCIC) prioritize in its efforts to prepare the chemical industry for the future?

We continue to actively assume a proactive role in bolstering the industry's transformation towards Industry 4.0 and a sustainable future. A key focus of our approach involves regulatory advocacy. This enables a regulatory environment that safeguards competitiveness while ensuring that the industry continues to keep up with Singapore’s 2030 Green Plan roadmap. For example, SCIC works closely with the ministries and concerned government agencies to advocate a resilient carbon tax framework that effectively balances Singapore's economic growth with the competitiveness of its trade-exposed industries.

We place significant emphasis on driving capacity and capability-building efforts to equip the industry with relevant knowledge, through targeted training programs, workshops, and collaborations with stakeholders. Communication is another key pillar of our efforts. We believe in establishing a continuous dialogue with all relevant stakeholders.

The global Energy and Chemicals (E&C) sector is rapidly evolving to achieve its green and sustainable objectives. As businesses embrace technological advancements, it becomes imperative to ensure that the workforce also undergoes a similar transformation by acquiring new knowledge and skill sets to support these emerging roles. Hence, SCIC works closely with Workforce Singapore (WSG) to support workforce transformation through administering the new Career Conversion Programme (CCP). Can you share some of SCIC’s activities and initiatives over the past year?

We initiated the organization of the SCIC Sustainability Conference in 2021. This annual conference helps facilitate the efficient exchange of knowledge, ensuring that the industry is kept up-to-date. Furthermore, they are able to foster potential partnerships that would play a pivotal role in tackling the challenges posed by climate change.

The importance of Health, Safety, Environment, and Security (HSES) performance remains paramount to the industry's sustainability drive. As the program administrator for Responsible Care in Singapore, SCIC has taken steps to extend the principles of Responsible Care to our partners in the Process, Construction & Maintenance (PCM) sector. Through collaboration with the PCM partners, we are actively developing relevant and fit-for-purpose guidelines that align with the Responsible Care program’s objectives.

As part of our efforts to cultivate a healthy work environment and in line with the WSH 2028 strategies, SCIC is also working to enhance the Responsible Care Employee Health and Safety code. Signatory companies can incorporate practices that promote both physical and mental well-being into their annual self-assessments. The exchange of exemplary practices among industry stakeholders will further improve our performances and through these collective actions we are committed to continue to uphold the highest standards of HSES, thus ensuring the long-term sustainability of the industry.

In parallel, the Standards Development Organisation, SDO@SCIC, actively monitors global standards developments and identifies local standardization needs relating to sustainability, particularly on the circularity of materials and decarbonization. A Technical Reference (TR 109) has been developed to provide a framework for reducing packaging waste and improving the recyclability of packaging during the design phase. The guidance supports the National Environment Agency (NEA)'s Mandatory Packaging Reporting scheme and applies to all industries. Additionally, the SDO@SCIC has launched a new Workshop Agreement on marine biofuel that promotes the use of low-carbon marine fuel as a near-term solution. It aims to help decarbonize the maritime industry amidst working on new standards to support other alternative fuels like methanol and ammonia. The adoption of a circular economy approach in standards development work also provides a holistic perspective, taking into consideration the environmental impacts of products and services throughout their entire life cycle, thus aiding Singapore in achieving the goal of sustainability.

Progress has been achieved in the implementation of the certification framework by the Productivity Council (a collaborative initiative between the Government and Industry) aimed at enhancing the productivity performance of the PCM sector. The certification framework is a crucial benchmarking tool for the PCM sector, enabling targeted productivity improvements through a data-driven approach. Four PCM partners have already been certified, and 28 more will be certified within two years. To support PCM workforce transformation, the Productivity Council has collaborated with MOM and ITE to create a new capability-building framework that prioritizes skilled training and upgrading. The initiative aims to build a competent and productive workforce through skill refresh, deep-skilling, and multi-skilling.