Response to Rising Temperatures

RESPONSE TO RISING TEMPERATURES

According to the V3 stakeholder report, Singapore experiences an average of 21.4 very hot days annually, defined as days with daily maximum temperature exceeding 35°C. This number is projected to worsen, rising to 129 very hot days annually by 2050 under a high-emissions scenario. It is important to be prepared for rising temperatures to ensure Singapore remains liveable, and safeguard health and productivity.

National Heat Resilience Strategy

The Government adopts a science-based and proactive heat resilience strategy, which has three prongs:

1. Implementing national-level cooling strategies to benefit all segments of our society.
   This includes strategies to cool our urban environment, such as urban planning and building design to improve air flow and ventilation, greenery and cool materials, and use of energy efficient cooling technologies to reduce the amount of waste heat and greenhouse gases generated.
   

2. Deepening our scientific understanding of the impact of rising temperatures.
   CCRS has released the results of Singapore’s Third National Climate Change Study (V3), which provides the world’s highest resolution climate projections for Singapore and Southeast Asia, including for heat. These updated projections will be used to guide climate adaptation plans so that Singapore remains resilient. We will continue to invest in heat resilience research and development. For example, we are developing environmental modelling and simulation to better understand the contributors to heat and assess effectiveness of cooling strategies, as well as studying the impacts of rising heat on human health and other conditions.

3. Strengthening the community’s resilience, especially among more vulnerable population segments.
   We are empowering the community to cope with a warming world, including by launching the Heat Stress Advisory to guide the public on ways to minimise the risk of heat stress. There are also enhanced guidelines to protect specific groups of our population, such as outdoor workers. In addition, we are progressively deploying more Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature sensors in other parts of Singapore, including residential districts. Such sensors will augment the HSA and sector-specific guidelines, and enable the Government to better quantify, track and monitor heat in Singapore. We have also developed heatwave response plans for both public and sector-specific populations.