In the photo: From left is Ms Kerryn Coker, Arup’s Regional Co-Chair, Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Ms Jacqueline Poh, Managing Director of Singapore’s Economic Development Board, and Mr Tan Yoong Heng, Arup’s Singapore Country Leader. (Photo credit: Arup)
Singapore – Arup, a global design, engineering and advisory business with sustainable development at its heart, unveiled the Centre for Climate Action in Cities (CCAC) on 3 August 2022.
Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment and Guest-of-Honour, launched the Centre together with Ms Jacqueline Poh, Managing Director of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB).
Arup’s goal is to develop a truly sustainable built environment. It works with leading private and government organisations to address challenges related to climate change such as decarbonisation, city resilience, green and circular buildings, coastal resilience, and retrofitting or reuse of existing assets.
Supported by the EDB, the CCAC leverages Arup’s heritage as a design-led consultancy, its end-to-end capabilities from strategy to implementation and network of partnerships, to deliver sustainable, equitable and resilient outcomes in Asia.
Mr Tan Yoong Heng, Arup’s Singapore Country Leader, said: “This decade is a critical window of opportunity to rapidly decarbonise our cities and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Using Singapore as the hub for the region, the CCAC will provide innovative climate solutions for cities and organisations to achieve their sustainable urban development goals.”
Singapore aims to halve emissions from an expected 2030 peak and will raise its climate ambition to achieve net zero emissions by or around mid-century. From its operations in Singapore, Arup will be deepening its energy, waste and circularity, climate adaptation and water capabilities over the next three years. Through the CCAC, Arup will help private and government organisations navigate risks, identify opportunities, strengthen organisational resilience and implement changes responding to the climate emergency.
Mr Chintan Raveshia, Arup’s CCAC Lead, said: “Cities are responsible for more than two-thirds of global emissions and will need to be the focal point of climate action. Population of urban areas in Asia is predicted to increase to 3.5 billion by 2050. We need to balance urban demands such as providing homes and infrastructure, while ensuring that this growth does not compromise our environment.”
Ms Jacqueline Poh, Managing Director of EDB, said: “As cities accelerate their decarbonisation plans, demand for sustainability solutions will continue to grow. Arup’s Centre for Climate Action in Cities will help to address this need by building Singapore’s capabilities in design, engineering and advisory, helping companies and governments across the region develop more comprehensive sustainability roadmaps. We look forward to partnering Arup to strengthen our suite of offerings in carbon services.”
Bringing together its global resources and leadership in innovation and sustainability, Arup delivers an impressive portfolio including pioneering research and urban transformation projects in Singapore, which can be used as a showcase for other countries in Asia.
Mr Tan added: “By integrating our design, engineering and advisory services, Arup brings an inventive and joined-up approach on any project. This will provide not only a tight focus to niche problems, but we can also pool expertise in new ways to develop highly original, improved responses to complex and multifaceted situations related to the climate emergency. This multidisciplinary suite of services will continue to grow as the Singapore office becomes the gateway to the region.”
