Building Green Data Centres – Singapore Lifts Moratorium on New Data Centres, Introduces Environmental Sustainability Standards

Data centres are important enablers of the digital economy, but are also intense consumers of resources. In Singapore, the Government had sought to manage the growth of data centres by imposing a moratorium on new data centre projects since 2019. However, there have been indications from the relevant Government Ministries that this moratorium is set to be lifted soon, albeit subject to certain prescribed environmental standards and restrictions. In doing so, Singapore seeks not only to balance digitalisations and decarbonisation, but to harmonise its efforts on both fronts.

In this Update, we look at the lifting of the moratorium on new data centres, the restrictions that may be imposed, and what it means for the technology industry on the sustainability front.