Singapore to Invest Proceeds from Green Bonds to Improve Railway Infrastructure

The Singapore Green Bond Framework has allocated S$700 million (US$511 million) to finance the country's rail network's Jurong Region Line (JRL) and Cross Island Line (CRL).  

This amounts to 30% of the S$2.4 billion in Green Singapore Government Securities (Infrastructure) bond proceeds as of March 31, this year.

The remaining S$1.7 billion proceeds are expected to be fully allocated to the JRL and CRL by the end of FY2024, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in the inaugural edition of the Singapore Green Bond Report, released on Thursday (Sept 21).

Singapore's first issuance of sustainable debt, the 50-year sovereign green bonds, will be issued in August 2022. The second tranche of Green SGS (Infra) bonds was issued on September 4, 2023, and the allocation and impact details will be included in the report for the following year.

These bonds are part of the Government and its statutory boards' plan to issue up to S$35 billion in sovereign and public sector green bonds by 2030. Green bonds worth S$8.2 billion had been issued as of March 31, covering four green categories: clean transportation, waste management, green building, and sustainable water.

With climate change being the "defining challenge" of our generation, Second Minister for Finance and National Development and Chair of the Green Bond Steering Committee Indranee Rajah said in the report that "sustainable finance plays a pivotal role as a catalyst for decarbonisation to tackle this climate crisis".