TLDR: A recent study by Schneider Electric and the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) reveals that over one in five Singaporean businesses have achieved 30-49% cost savings and up to 20% energy savings by integrating AI and digital twin technologies. This highlights a growing trend towards sustainable urban cooling and green building practices, supported by advanced computational tools like the Digital Urban Climate Twin (DUCT) developed under the Cooling Singapore 2.0 initiative.
Singapore is making significant strides in sustainable urban cooling, with businesses reporting substantial benefits from the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital twin technologies. A study conducted by Schneider Electric and the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC), surveying over 500 senior business leaders, found that more than one in five businesses in the city-state achieved cost savings ranging from 30% to 49% after implementing these advanced solutions. Additionally, these firms recorded energy savings of up to 20% over the past year. Projections from the study indicate that businesses anticipate further savings, expecting up to 20% in the next year, 21–29% over two years, and as much as 49% within five years.
This shift is also reflected in changing priorities for green building projects. Cost, which was a top concern for 61% of firms in 2023, dropped to 36% in 2025, indicating that the financial barriers to adopting sustainable practices are diminishing. The survey also highlighted that nearly 80% of organizations successfully reduced emissions by over 10% through a combination of renewable energy, efficient systems, sustainable materials, and improved transport infrastructure. Motivations for sustainability are evolving, with employee-driven initiatives increasing from 3% in 2023 to 8%, and regulatory requirements growing from 2% to 10%, spurred by Singapore’s new Mandatory Energy Improvement scheme for energy-intensive buildings.
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These commercial successes complement broader national efforts in sustainable urban development. The multi-institutional ‘Cooling Singapore 2.0’ research initiative, led by the Singapore-ETH Centre in partnership with institutions like the Singapore Management University, National University of Singapore, and the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, has been instrumental in developing the ‘Digital Urban Climate Twin (DUCT)’. Over the last four years, more than 20 researchers have collaborated to build this sophisticated digital replica of Singapore. The DUCT allows urban planners and policymakers to simulate various scenarios and conduct ‘what-if’ analyses to devise effective cooling strategies for the tropical climate. This virtual system can perform in-silico experiments that would be impractical in the real world, helping to address the urban heat island effect, which can make cramped urban areas up to 7 degrees Celsius hotter than less developed regions. The DUCT leverages the National Supercomputing Centre Singapore’s (NSCC) ASPIRE 2A supercomputing capabilities, enabling it to complete up to 80 hours of climate model simulations within just 24 hours, making it 3.3 times faster than previous methods. This integration of high-performance computing and AI is a cornerstone of Singapore’s strategy to enhance climate resilience and optimize urban living spaces.
