AtlasSingapore-Johor, SG–MYEmma Kleinbölting, Antonia Johanna Karl, Beda Füssler, and Simone Graf

The city-state of Singapore faces severe constraints in terms of land availability and natural resources. As a result, many essential goods and materials must be imported from abroad. The same applies to the country’s energy supply, which largely depends on external sources. This high level of dependency makes resource management a key challenge for Singapore’s long-term development.

In 2020, data centres accounted for around 7 % of Singapore’s total electricity consumption. Most of the country’s energy is generated from natural gas and other fossil fuels. A large share of these energy resources is imported from neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. This reliance on external energy supply highlights the growing tension between digital infrastructure expansion and energy security.

Both Malaysia and Indonesia are part of the SIJORI Growth Triangle, a regional economic cooperation zone linking Singapore with Johor in Malaysia and the Riau Islands in Indonesia. The initiative aims to strengthen cross-border economic collaboration and regional development. Through this framework, Singapore is able to access additional labour, land, and resources from neighbouring regions. The SIJORI Triangle therefore plays an important role in supporting Singapore’s economic and infrastructural growth.

Singapore’s climate is characterised by consistently high temperatures and humidity throughout the year. These conditions create a significant demand for cooling in buildings and infrastructure. Data centres in particular require large-scale cooling systems to maintain stable operating conditions. As a result, climate conditions further increase the energy consumption of digital infrastructure in the city-state.

The SIJORI Growth Triangle comprises three key regions: Singapore, Johor (Malaysia), and the Riau Islands (Indonesia). This trade pact coordinates various economic sectors, with a significant focus on data centres and their energy requirements. The primary advantages for the data centre industry lie in Singapore’s advanced infrastructure coupled with the lower land and operational costs available in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Singapore has been making strong progress in telecommunications for a long time. There were several major decisions by the government that helped Singapore develop its infrastructure very early. In the past with copper cables, today with fiber-optic cables, Singapore is very well connected resulting in Singapore becoming the most important telecommunications hub in Southeast Asia.

The Singaporean government imposed a moratorium on the approval of new data centre construction in 2019. This measure temporarily halted further expansion in order to reassess the sector’s rapid growth. The moratorium was lifted in 2022, after which a controlled approval process was introduced. A second round of regulated approvals followed in 2025 as part of this new framework.

Like many countries around the world, Singapore has set ambitious net-zero emissions targets. Policymakers recognised that allowing the rapid expansion of data centres without regulation could jeopardise the country’s ability to meet its climate goals. In addition, Singapore faces limitations in terms of clean energy production and overall energy supply capacity. The moratorium therefore gave the government time to evaluate how the data centre sector could continue to grow in a more sustainable and energy-efficient way.

During this period, the government introduced new regulations for the construction of data centres. These include a complex sustainability assessment based on the “Green Mark” rating system, which projects must meet in order to receive approval. The system evaluates different aspects of environmental performance and sets minimum efficiency standards for new developments. In particular, the regulations focus on improving hardware and software efficiency to reduce the overall energy consumption of data centres.

At the same time, the moratorium allowed Singapore’s energy infrastructure to expand and adapt to the increasing demand created by the digital sector. This period provided an opportunity to strengthen energy supply systems and explore more sustainable solutions for future growth. By slowing development temporarily, the government aimed to better align digital infrastructure expansion with long-term environmental and energy strategies.

A prime example is the 150 MW Meta building, where construction began in 2022. While it currently stands as the largest data centre in the SIJORI region, even larger facilities are already under construction or in the planning stages in Malaysia.

Meta has implemented strict guidelines to ensure more efficient energy use, guided by the principle: “We cannot reduce what we do not measure.” To this end, they track their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions using activity data. By multiplying the quantity of a specific activity by its associated emission factor, they calculate the total environmental impact. For instance, the kilowatt-hours of electricity consumed at a Meta site are multiplied by country- or region-specific emissions factors to determine the site’s total footprint.

Water is another critical resource for their cooling systems. In 2022, Meta increased the operating temperature in selected data halls from 85°F to 90°F as part of a pilot program. Preliminary results show a reduction of over 50 % in water usage during the summer months, with negligible impact on overall data centre operations.

Over the past decades, Singapore has become one of the world’s most important data centre hubs, thanks to strong digital infrastructure and global connections. But this growth also puts pressure on limited land and energy resources. In 2019, the government paused new data centre projects to rethink sustainability and efficiency. Since 2022, new projects are allowed again, but under stricter environmental rules. As a result, some expansion has moved to nearby Malaysia.