Singapore has launched the world’s first nationwide utility enabling companies to retrieve and automatically convert utilities data from various public agencies into basic sustainability metrics at no cost.
To continue reading, subscribe to Eco‑Business.
There's something for everyone. We offer a range of subscription plans.
- Access our stories and receive our Insights Weekly newsletter with the free EB Member plan.
- Unlock unlimited access to our content and archive with EB Circle.
- Publish your content with EB Premium.
Developed by Gprnt, which was spun off from the Singapore central bank in 2023, the platform allows companies – including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – to pull out water, gas and electricity usage data from national agencies for the first time, through a tie-up with an existing government portal called MyInfo business services.
The new integration allows all locally-registered businesses with accounts on the portal to access government-held data they have consented to share.
“This marks a pivotal moment, not just for Gprnt, but for the future of sustainability reporting,” said Lionel Wong, the entity’s executive director. “We’ve built a landmark solution that empowers businesses to transform environmental, social and governance reporting and data from a burden to a bridge.”
Gprnt piloted its inaugural offerings for automated reporting of Scope 1 and 2 emissions – which refer to a firm’s direct emissions and indirect emissions from power use respectively – at the Singapore FinTech Festival last November, as industry interest shifted from ESG to artificial intelligence (AI) and footfall at the event’s sustainability zone reached a three-year low.
Against the backdrop of the politicisation of ESG, Wong had told Eco-Business that making Gprnt’s utility open-access also forces other reporting platforms that had aggressively expanded in the past few years to rethink their business models.
“If today I cannot justify why I’m asking for a dollar from a user when I’m doing exactly the same thing as a free utility, then I should really ask serious questions about what I’m trying to achieve,” he said.
On Thursday, Gprnt also announced that it has raised US$4.62 million in seed funding from Ant International and MUFG Bank, who have been strategic partners since the entity’s establishment, to expand its services across Asia, where mandatory International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)-aligned reporting rules have started kicking in.
With the fresh capital, Gprnt aims to deepen its AI capabilities and accelerate the adoption of its platform across the region. In the months ahead, it plans to roll out Scope 3 reporting support, develop an AI-powered virtual sustainability officer to assist companies as well as tools that help users act on their reported data.
While mandatory reporting rules currently only apply to listed issuers, SMEs are expected to face mounting compliance pressure in the coming years, as their carbon footprints are the indirect value chain emissions, or Scope 3 emissions, of large multinationals.
To date, calculating Scope 3 emissions – which typically account for over 70 per cent of a firm’s carbon output – remains a struggle for many companies, which led Singapore to drop the original 2026 timeline for reporting it last year.
Ravi Menon, Singapore’s ambassador for climate action and former central bank chief, called Gprnt’s utility a “game-changer” that will help smaller businesses decarbonise while staying competitive.
“High-integrity sustainability data is critical for businesses to formulate effective transition plans for decarbonisation,” said Menon. “Yet, harnessing such data is often costly and complex for SMEs, especially at a time when they are facing global trade headwinds and economic uncertainties.”
“Gprnt will empower businesses to undertake sustainability reporting at lower cost and with less pain. It will help them better manage the tensions between dealing with heightened cost pressures while building strategic capabilities to thrive in the green economy of the future.”
