With the rise of the "Green Wind" initiative, the number of products applying for the Singapore Green Label has surged by nearly 30% in the past six months. Even products manufactured in Vietnam, China, and Indonesia are making a special trip to apply for certification locally, aiming to "gold plate" their products before reselling them in developed countries.
Currently, there are as many as 1,665 products certified by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and holding the Singapore Green Label. However, according to earlier reports, only 1,300 products had received this label just seven months ago, indicating an increase of 365 products within that time frame.
Foreign products account for about 20-30% of this total, with imports from abroad nearly doubling compared to a year ago. Many of these products from neighboring countries are not even sold in Singapore.
In an interview, Shao Zaili, Executive Director of the Singapore Environment Council, explained: "The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference last year stirred up significant debate among countries, which, to some extent, raised consumer awareness of environmental issues. Additionally, an increasing number of businesses from developed countries such as Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea only import products with reliable green certifications. Therefore, the well-regarded and internationally recognized Singapore certification label has naturally become a target for manufacturers worldwide."
To meet market demands, the Singapore Environment Council plans to enhance the integrity of the label over the next year, upgrading from a simple green label design to a detailed "scorecard" that outlines how environmentally friendly products are at each stage of production. The Council also aims to expand the green label program from the current 45 categories of products to 66, including household appliances and furniture, by the third quarter of next year. Shao Zaili stated: "Appliances like air conditioners and refrigerators are already required to display energy-saving labels, but you can only make basic comparisons based on the checkmarks on the label. The new label will accurately inform you of the energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from production to transportation. If the government does implement a carbon tax in the future, such labels will be useful." With consumers becoming increasingly environmentally conscious, Shao Zaili believes that the demand for green labels will only continue to grow.
However, conducting such detailed analyses for each product naturally requires a large workforce to thoroughly inspect products and even send personnel to factories for assessments. Therefore, the Singapore Environment Council will increase staffing and seek collaboration with domestic and international organizations. The Council also plans to introduce more monitoring measures within six months to prevent the misuse of labels by unscrupulous businesses. Last year, during a surprise inspection in collaboration with the Consumers Association, two companies were found to be misusing the green label on their cleaning products, and eight other brands failed to display the label correctly.
