April 9, 2026
SINGAPORE – From Scotland’s push for climate-resilient barley for whisky, to a tunnel in Malaysia that also diverts flood waters away from the city centre, many countries are revving up their efforts to adapt to climate change.
Singapore, located in the midst of the sizzling tropics, is no exception.
In March, the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) announced a slew of initiatives in this area, as it declared 2026 the Year of Climate Adaptation. Plans include rolling out coastal protection efforts, investing $40 million in heat research and topping up $70 million to a fund to support local farms.
Climate adaptation is now a top national priority, to strengthen the resilience of businesses and communities here against the onslaught of climate change.
As Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu told The Straits Times in an interview on March 18, nobody can argue with why countries should take steps to protect themselves from climate impact.
But the question is: who should pay for these protective shields?
Climate adaptation will not come cheap.
To protect itself from rising sea levels alone, Singapore estimates that it must spend $100 billion over the long term.
The Government plans to fund this through various ways, including tapping the existing $10 billion Coastal and Flood Protection Fund, borrowing via the Significant Government Infrastructure Loan Act, and the use of past reserves where appropriate, said a government spokesman.
The Act allows the Government to borrow up to $90 billion to pay for infrastructure that will last for at least 50 years.
“One challenge of climate adaptation finance is striking a balance between having protection early and overcommitting resources,” the spokesman added.
Scientific understanding of how the world will be affected by growing amounts of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere is ever-changing, due to newer models and studies.
The spokesman said: “We need to have agility and flexibility in our climate adaptation plans so that solutions can be adaptive to advancing climate projections and engineering solutions.”
There are no official estimates for the other expected costs of adaptation in Singapore, such as battling heat or safeguarding food and water security.
Efforts are under way to figure out the nation’s needs on this front, and a National Adaptation Plan is expected to be ready by 2027.
But one question increasingly being discussed at the global level is whether governments alone should be responsible for bearing this burden.
Across many jurisdictions, adaptation initiatives – such as building sea walls – are funded by governments.
According to a 2025 report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), about 75 per cent of a developing nation’s adaptation needs, such as climate-proofing new roads, would conventionally be funded by the public sector.
But national budgets have been, and are increasingly, constrained.
Funds will need to be set aside to weather immediate crises, as was the case during the Covid-19 pandemic, for instance. Between the 2020 and 2022 financial years, Singapore drew about $40 billion from the past reserves to support Covid-19 measures.
The conflict in the Middle East, if prolonged, could also prompt governments to fund emergency measures, given the widespread impact of the war on prices of fuel, fertiliser and food.
Moreover, climate change impacts will be felt over a range of time horizons.
Growing heat stress is already being experienced today, but sea-level rise could be felt further into the future. For instance, Singapore’s sea level is projected to rise by up to 5m by 2100, if higher global mean sea levels coincide with high tides and storm surges.
So another consideration is how much governments should collect from today’s taxpayers to finance initiatives that could only bear fruit for future generations.
“The Government will continue to study how best to resource adaptation measures in a way that is fiscally sustainable and equitable across generations, based on our development plans and fiscal needs,” said the spokesman.
Insurance broker Marsh Asia Pacific’s managing director for climate and sustainability Graeme Riddell said although the costs need to be distributed across generations who will benefit, it is also important to recognise Singapore’s current fiscal strength and the short-term benefits of investing in climate resilience today, so that more can be done earlier.
“The goal is to reduce the total lifetime cost of climate risk, not simply shift costs forward,” said Dr Riddell.
Still, reports by management consultancy BCG and the UNEP have pointed out that fiscal spending alone will not be enough.
A November 2025 BCG report said that the estimated investment needs are multiple times more than public sector budgets and financing capacity in many countries. All forms of capital, from public, private, multilateral development to philanthropic sources, will need to be deployed in adaptation to close the gap, it added.
It is critical, then, that discussions on climate adaptation should start involving the private sector.
Climate adaptation has been thrust in the spotlight globally too, with this issue being a key focus at the UN climate conference COP30 in November 2025.
Countries agreed at the summit on a list of 59 indicators to help them determine how they should adapt to climate change, and how to measure progress in those areas. The indicators cover areas such as water, agriculture and health.
The fragmenting global landscape on climate action could deepen the crisis.
