Branded Content
Cost among top drivers – and barriers – to climate action in S’pore, survey finds
Survey finds cost as both the biggest draw and obstacle to adopting climate-friendly actions in Singapore
Kintan Andanari, Brand Newsroom
When Emma Wong, 30, shops for home appliances, she considers not just the price. She checks the number of ticks too.
Wong will move into a four-room Housing Board flat with her husband, 31, in October. Every appliance they bought, from air-conditioners to the refrigerator, carries the highest five-tick rating under the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) energy labelling scheme.
More ticks mean less electricity for the same function, which can lower electricity bills.
Wong, who works in language localisation (adapting words to suit the language and culture of target markets), chooses them to cut power use and emissions, driven by concern over climate change and the warmer temperature it brings.
“With what we know about climate change, this just seemed like the responsible thing to do,” she says. “The heatwaves in Europe of late brought back into focus how much of a grave reality global warming is.”
Over 90 per cent of Singapore’s electricity comes from imported natural gas. Although touted as the cleanest fossil fuel, extracting, processing and shipping it still releases greenhouse gases.
These gases trap heat in the atmosphere, driving the long-term rise in the earth’s average surface temperature known as global warming. Climate change refers to its broader effects on weather patterns and climate conditions, like rising sea levels.
That energy-efficient equipment also lowers Wong’s electricity bills is a bonus, she says, though the savings are timely. Household electricity tariffs hit record high over July to September, as the Middle East conflict raised global natural gas prices.
While cost is a bonus for her, a recent survey suggests that it is one of the top motivators – and barriers – to adopting sustainable or climate-friendly actions in Singapore.
The survey was commissioned by SPH Media and Temasek Foundation, polling 1,000 Singapore residents in April 2026, drawn from independent market research firm Kantar’s Profiles Audience Network.
Long-term savings, affordable options, and financial incentives were the top reasons respondents gave to adopt more sustainable or climate-friendly habits. Conversely, their perceived higher cost and lack of incentives were the strongest deterrents.
Buying energy-efficient products and supporting environmentally responsible brands were among the least adopted of seven climate-friendly behaviours in the survey. This is despite hotter weather and heat stress being respondents’ top climate concerns.
While many recognise the importance of environmental sustainability, households also need climate-friendly solutions to be financially practical, says Alvin Ee, a research fellow at NUS’ Energy Studies Institute.
“This is especially true for household purchases, where the upfront cost is immediate and highly visible,” Ee says.
Unpacking the green premium
Does adopting more climate-friendly cooling solutions need to cost more? Not necessarily, say experts and Wong.
Wong found energy-efficient options across price brackets.
She chose an air-con with five-tick rating and marketed as using less refrigerant, the chemical that absorbs and releases heat to cool air, thus emitting less carbon emissions.
Checks on retailer websites in Singapore showed little price difference between four- and five-tick air-cons of the same cooling capacity. Some five-tick models cost more; others less.
That cost parity mirrors a pattern Ee observed with inverter air-cons, which vary compressor speed to maintain temperature. Once pricier than non-inverter units, they became the industry standard as the technology matured and production scaled – a shift that may also explain the narrowing gap between the four- and five-tick air-con prices.
A five-tick air-con uses about 10 per cent less power than a comparable four-tick model providing the same amount of cooling, he says.
Switching saves around $64 annually for a single 9,000 British thermal unit (btu) air-con – the typical unit for a Housing Board common room – running eight hours daily at current rates, Ee adds.
Rising temperatures are pushing households to rely on cooling more often and for longer, making it an increasingly significant contributor to their power use, Ee says. “Small gains in efficiency or changes in usage can add up to noticeable savings over time.”
More mature heat management and decarbonisation solutions, like energy-efficient appliances and solar panels, have seen costs fall enough over time to support wider adoption, says Adrian T.H. Kuah, Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at James Cook University.
He credits this to factors including larger production scale, better access to financing, initial government subsidies, and steady demand.
Policy support helps too, he adds. Under the enhanced Climate Friendly Households Programme, run by NEA and national water agency PUB, eligible households can claim up to $400 for approved energy- and water-efficient appliances, a scheme Wong used herself.
The vouchers tackle one of the biggest hurdles to going green: upfront costs, says Kuah.
Green premium, however, remains for newer solutions – like major building retrofits to cut energy use and emissions, and carbon capture – since the materials and infrastructure behind them are still developing, says Kuah.
Financing the future of cooling
Climate tech and clean energy venture funding in Singapore has declined, falling from US$214 million (S$274 million) in 2022 to US$37 million in 2025, according to a May report by consulting firm EY-Parthenon and Enterprise Singapore. Global deal value in the sector also hit a five-year low, the report notes, citing US-based research firm PitchBook.
The slowdown means newer climate solutions may take longer to reach regular consumers, says Adrian T.H. Kuah, Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at James Cook University.
Public and philanthropic funding can help bridge that gap, he says. They help lower early risks, fund test projects and shared infrastructure, and gradually build a market that is more trusted and investable – the kind of ecosystem-building that makes climate solutions more affordable and accessible over time.
One such effort is taking shape in Singapore.
Temasek Foundation’s Head of Climate & Liveability, Heng Li Lang, says climate solutions must be practical, scalable and able to reach the communities that need them most to make a difference.
The pace of climate change is not slowing, says Heng. The World Meteorological Organisation noted in March that 2015 to 2025 were the 11 hottest years on record.
“This is why Temasek Foundation has been and will be committed to supporting climate innovations through The Liveability Challenge (TLC) and our global network of climate-tech challenges,” Heng says.
Presented by Temasek Foundation and organised by media company Eco-Business since 2018, TLC is an annual global crowdsourcing platform tackling urban challenges in the tropics. It has incubated 62 start-ups and deployed around $18 million to date.
TLC provides catalytic funding – an initial boost helping early-stage ventures unlock further support – alongside mentorship, industry connections and visibility. Together, these help innovators move climate solutions beyond the prototype stage towards commercial adoption, Heng says, even as market capital turns more cautious.
Singapore-based KrossLinker, one of last year’s TLC winners, develops aerogel-based paints and coatings for passive cooling, says chief executive officer and co-founder Gayathri Natarajan.
Conventional cooling paints reflect sunlight and reduce heat absorption, though some heat still passes through walls and roofs, she says. Integrating aerogel – an ultra-light, highly porous solid made mostly of air – adds an insulating layer to slow how fast residual heat enters buildings.
KrossLinker is focused on making the historically expensive aerogel tech more affordable and accessible for mass adoption, she says. TLC helped it catalyse pilot projects generating the performance data needed to back their solutions, she adds.
Since March 2026, its aerogel-based cooling paint has been trialled on a lift motor room’s exterior walls on the rooftop of Pioneer Mall, a Housing and Development Board neighbourhood centre in Jurong West. This is in collaboration with Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Centre for Environmental Sustainability (CfES), which supported the pilot’s sensor set-up.
It is also preparing for a pilot deployment with Sembcorp Solar Singapore under the Skills and Workforce Development Agency (SWDA)’s SkillsFuture Queen Bee (SFQB) programme at the Sembcorp Tengeh Floating Solar Farm to evaluate the technology on a Power Conversion System (PCS) facility, which converts alternating current to direct current and vice versa, enabling power flow between the battery energy storage systems and the grid.
Staying cool on a budget
Keeping cool does not always require a new purchase.
At home, it starts with understanding how heat builds up – entering from outside and generated indoors. Reduce either, and less cooling is needed to stay comfortable, says Ee.
Simple habits help: Closing curtains during peak sun hours reduces sunlight streaming in, he says, while switching off lights and screens, which give off heat while running, lowers electricity bills and indoor heat.
Timing heat-heavy tasks like baking outside the hottest hours helps too, as does keeping windows open to let air in when outdoor conditions are favourable, he adds.
For those with air-con, moderating use is key, since cooling is among the biggest household energy costs in Singapore, says Kuah.
Running the air-con for an hour before switching to a fan saves around 23 per cent of utility costs, while using a fan alone can cut costs by about 26 per cent, he says, citing NEA guidance.
Wong keeps her air-con at 25 deg C and turns on a fan instead of lowering the air-con’s temperature during warmer stretches. Every degree raised saves about three per cent of utility costs, NEA estimates.
Looking ahead, Ee is excited about further cooling development. These include AI-powered and smart cooling systems – which adjust to building occupancy and weather – gradually moving from just commercial buildings into homes as well, and personal cooling, like cooling wearables, targeting individuals rather than entire spaces.
That future needs continued investment, especially as it adapts to a warming climate.
“Continued investment is needed to improve performance, increase reliability, reduce manufacturing costs and ultimately make these technologies affordable for more households,” says Ee.
- In Perspective is a research-led content programme by SPH Media that combines insight-driven storytelling with expert perspectives on key issues shaping society.
In partnership with Temasek Foundation