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Regulatory Framework · Singapore

Singapore has two ESG tracks, and SGX is the one that is not yours

The SGX listing rules bind listed issuers: an annual sustainability report on a comply-or-explain basis, with climate disclosure layered on top and moving onto the ISSB baseline. If you are a supplier rather than an issuer, the framework built for you is a different one — and this page points you at it.

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I am a supplier — take me to ASEDGBuild your disclosure

Orientation only, current at the review date above. Singapore's climate-reporting timetable, its extension beyond listed issuers and the treatment of Scope 3 have all been adjusted through consultation — confirm the current position with SGX RegCo or ACRA.

The short version
  • SGX rules bind listed issuers. Not their suppliers, customers or contractors.
  • Sustainability reporting has been comply-or-explain for financial years ending on or after 31 Dec 2017 — a year-end trigger. That part is long-standing and stable.
  • Climate disclosure is layered on top and is moving onto the ISSB baseline — the timing and the Scope 3 treatment have moved through consultation.
  • If you are a Singapore SME, the framework built for you is ASEDG, not the listing rules.
  • ASEDG produces a filled template. That is a better answer to a listed customer than a mapping.

Two tracks, and which one is yours

Singapore is unusual in our coverage in having two distinct ESG disclosure tracks a reader could plausibly be searching for — and the one with SGX's name on it is usually not the one they need.

The SGX listing rules are an obligation on listed issuers. If your company is not listed on the exchange, they do not address you, and no amount of pressure from a customer changes that. ASEDG — the ASEAN Simplified ESG Disclosure Guide, which applies in Singapore — is the framework deliberately designed for the SMEs in those issuers' value chains. It is structurally identical to Malaysia's SEDG, and on Pro it produces a filled disclosure template rather than a mapping, which is a materially better thing to hand a listed customer.

What a listed issuer reports

Worth knowing even if it is not your obligation, because it explains the shape of what they ask you for. The sustainability report has been required on a comply-or-explain basis for financial years ending on or after 31 December 2017 — note the year-end trigger, which caught issuers whose financial year had begun in 2016. The issuer either reports the required elements or states publicly why it has not.

Material ESG factors

The issuer identifies which environmental, social and governance factors are material to it, and explains the selection — rather than reporting against a fixed universal list.

Policies, practices and performance

What the issuer does about each material factor and how it performed, with targets for the forthcoming year.

Climate disclosures

Governance, strategy, risk management and metrics — layered on top of the sustainability report and moving onto the ISSB baseline.

Board statement and framework used

A statement from the board on its oversight of the report, and disclosure of which reporting framework the issuer applied.

Note the first item in particular. SGX reporting is materiality-led: the issuer decides which factors matter to it and explains the choice, rather than completing a fixed universal checklist. That is why two Singapore-listed customers can send you noticeably different questionnaires — they have made different materiality calls.

The moving parts, flagged deliberately

Three things here have been adjusted through consultation and should not be planned around from a secondary summary:

  • the timetable for moving listed issuers onto ISSB-aligned climate reporting;
  • the proposed extension to large non-listed companies, which is the one development that could bring a bigger private company into scope for the first time;
  • the treatment of Scope 3, which has been deferred and revisited.

This page therefore states direction of travel and no fixed financial years. Check SGX RegCo and ACRA for the current position. Last reviewed August 24, 2026.

The number they will ask you for

Whichever track your customer is on, the supplier-facing ask converges on the same short list: annual electricity, fuel burned on site and in vehicles, and the Scope 1 and Scope 2 totals from them — with the factor and its vintage named.

EcoDiligence calculates Singapore Scope 2 on the EMA 2024 Grid Emission Factor of 0.402 kgCO₂/kWh. Note the unit: this is a CO₂-only factor and excludes methane and nitrous oxide, so the figure is conservative relative to a full CO₂e factor. We disclose that rather than relabelling the unit.

Singapore profiles carry an SGX Climate Disclosure Support badge alongside VSME, and Pro adds the ASEDG module. To be exact about all of it: none of this is an SGX filing, we do not produce one, and nothing here is independently assured.

Common questions

Listed issuers on the Singapore Exchange. The listing rules have required an annual sustainability report on a comply-or-explain basis for financial years ENDING on or after 31 December 2017 — a year-end trigger, not a year-start one, so an issuer whose financial year began in 2016 but ended after that date was already caught. Climate-related disclosure has been layered on top since. It is a listing obligation, so it binds issuers — not their suppliers, customers or contractors.

Not if you are not listed. An SME supplier is not an issuer and has no SGX reporting obligation. What can reach you is a request from a listed customer who does report, because parts of their disclosure depend on data they do not hold. If you are a Singapore SME looking for the framework actually designed for you, that is ASEDG rather than the listing rules.

That an issuer must either report the required elements or state plainly why it has not. It is a weaker obligation than a hard mandate, but it is not optional — the explanation itself is public and read by investors, which in practice is what gives it force. The climate elements have been moving from this footing onto a firmer one.

That is the direction of travel. Singapore has been transitioning climate reporting for listed issuers onto the ISSB baseline, and an extension to large non-listed companies has been consulted on. Both the timing and the treatment of Scope 3 have been adjusted during consultation, so this page states the direction rather than fixed financial years. Check SGX RegCo and ACRA for the current position before planning around it.

They serve opposite ends of the same value chain. SGX reporting is a listing obligation on large listed issuers and follows the ISSB baseline. ASEDG — the ASEAN Simplified ESG Disclosure Guide — is a deliberately simplified set of disclosures for the SMEs in those issuers' supply chains, structurally identical to Malaysia's SEDG. If you received a questionnaire from a Singapore-listed customer, ASEDG is far more likely to be the right shape of answer than the listing rules are.

The published national Grid Emission Factor, named with its year. EcoDiligence uses the EMA 2024 figure of 0.402 kgCO₂ per kWh. Note the unit: this is a CO₂-only factor and does not include methane or nitrous oxide, so the Scope 2 figure it produces is conservative relative to a full CO₂e factor. We disclose that rather than relabelling.

Singapore is a dedicated Smart Pack. Profiles calculate Scope 1 and Scope 2 on the published Singapore grid factor and carry an SGX Climate Disclosure Support badge alongside VSME. Pro adds the ASEDG module, which produces a filled disclosure template — the more useful artefact for a supplier answering a listed customer. To be precise: none of this is an SGX filing, we do not produce one, and nothing here is independently assured.

Reviewed on August 24, 2026. The comply-or-explain sustainability reporting basis is long-standing; the ISSB-aligned climate timetable, the proposed extension beyond listed issuers and the Scope 3 position have been adjusted through consultation and are deliberately not dated here. This page is orientation, not legal or accounting advice — confirm with SGX RegCo, ACRA or a qualified adviser. Both are independent of EcoDiligence.

EcoDiligence ESG Passports are self-reported summaries structured for ESG disclosure workflows. Content is not independently assured. Information aligned with EFRAG VSME and IFRS S2 (ISSB) frameworks does not constitute formal compliance or certification.

Answer a listed customer with the right artefact

Scope 1 and Scope 2 on the published Singapore factor, and an ASEDG disclosure template on Pro. Free to start.

Create free PassportRead the ASEDG guide