Your SME Green Savings Checklist

1. Energy & utility quick wins

Start with the cheap, high-impact changes. Tick them off as you go:

Switch remaining lighting to LED and add motion sensors in low-traffic areas. Set air-con to 24–25°C, service units regularly, and seal cooled spaces. Tackle standby / phantom load — switch off idle equipment and use timers. Review your utility plan & tariffs and check actual usage against the bill. Cut obvious water waste (leaks, flow restrictors) and reduce single-use consumables. Right-size equipment and maintain it — clogged, ageing machines burn more power.

Most of these pay back quickly. Track one month before and after so you can see the difference on the bill.

2. ESG basics, decoded

You don't need a sustainability department

Environmental (energy, waste, water), Social (your people, safety, community), Governance (how you run and report). For an SME, start by simply measuring a few things — electricity use, waste volume — and setting one or two goals. That's enough to begin, and enough for most customer questionnaires.

3. Where to look for green grants & incentives

Support schemes exist to help SMEs adopt greener equipment and capabilities. The landscape changes, so treat these as starting points and confirm current details on the official sites:

→ Enterprise Singapore — enterprise sustainability and development support for SMEs building green capabilities. enterprisesg.gov.sg
→ National Environment Agency (NEA) — energy efficiency and environment-related schemes. nea.gov.sg
→ GoBusiness — the central portal to discover and apply for business grants. gobusiness.gov.sg

Eligibility, amounts and schemes vary and change — always verify on the official source before relying on any figure.

4. Turn it into customers & contracts

✓ Document what you do. A simple one-pager on your green practices answers most buyer questionnaires.
✓ Look at relevant certifications for your industry — some tenders and large customers expect them.
✓ Tell the story honestly. Real, modest progress beats vague "eco-friendly" claims (and avoids greenwashing risk).

Educational resource only — please read. Aquarise is an independent private company. We are not a government agency and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an approved vendor of any government body. This guide is general information, not professional, legal, or financial advice. Savings depend on your own setup and we make no specific savings guarantee. Grant and incentive schemes change — always verify the latest details on the official sources: enterprisesg.gov.sg · nea.gov.sg · gobusiness.gov.sg.

Guidance current as of 2026. Details are indicative and subject to change.

Want help going greener?

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