There’s a moment, somewhere between Heathrow and Changi, where the irony hits you at 35,000 feet. You’re burning roughly 0.5 tonnes of CO₂ to reach one of the world’s most sustainability-forward cities, a place that calls itself a “City in a Garden” and actually means it.
Singapore didn’t become a global sustainability model by accident. It chose it. And that choice is precisely why I chose Singapore.
As a student of Accounting and Finance at LSE, I spend a lot of time thinking about trade-offs: costs now versus benefits later, risk versus return. Climate change is the ultimate long-horizon trade-off, and Singapore is a case study in getting it right. The Singapore Green Plan 2030 maps directly onto the UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). The government’s target to hit 75% public transport modal share by 2030 isn’t just an aspiration; it’s policy already being executed through one of the most efficient MRT networks on earth. I intend to live by it. No taxis unless unavoidable, no ride-hailing out of convenience, just the train, the bus, and my own two feet.
But sustainable travel isn’t only about how you get there. It’s about how you exist once you arrive.
Singapore’s hawker culture is, quietly, one of the most sustainable food systems in the world. Communal kitchens, minimal packaging, locally adapted supply chains, and price points that make plant-forward eating accessible to everyone. It aligns neatly with SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 12. I plan to eat at hawker centres intentionally, carry a reusable container, and avoid the trap of imported Western comfort food that carries a supply chain footprint stretching thousands of miles.
For the unavoidable long-haul flight, I will offset my carbon through a verified scheme (Gold Standard certified at www.goldstandard.org) and log my consumption weekly using the app Capture (www.capture.com), which tracks personal carbon footprints in real time. I’ll also consult Singapore’s National Environment Agency portal (www.nea.gov.sg) for local recycling and waste-reduction guidance, and the Green Plan’s own tracker at www.greenplan.gov.sg.
The deeper lesson Singapore teaches is this: sustainability and ambition are not opposites. A city of 5.9 million people, with near-zero natural resources, chose to green its buildings, electrify its buses, and rewild its urban spaces, not because it was easy, but because it understood that doing nothing is the most expensive option of all.
I’m going to Singapore to learn finance. But I’m also going to learn something harder: how to be a responsible traveller in a world where the climate can no longer afford careless ones.
Resources
1) www.greenplan.gov.sg
2) www.goldstandard.org
3) www.capture.com
4) www.nea.gov.sg
5) www.sustainabledevelopment.un.org
