EnterpriseSG sustainability grants: SRG 30% vs the SME programme at 50%

The short version

This guide covers Singapore's grant schemes. For the universal method, see how to calculate your organization's footprint.

EnterpriseSG funds sustainability-report preparation through two separate routes, and the single most common budgeting mistake is mixing up their percentages. Keep them apart:

| Route | Support level | Cap | Who it targets | Window | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Sustainability Reporting Grant (SRG) | 30% of qualifying costs | S$150,000 | Listed companies and companies with revenue ≥ S$100 million | Confirm current terms with EnterpriseSG | | SME sustainability-reporting programme | 50% of costs | Confirm with EnterpriseSG | SMEs preparing a first sustainability report | Through October 2027 |

The SRG is not a 50% grant, and the SME programme is not capped the way the SRG is. They are different schemes for different company profiles, administered under different terms.

Route one: the SRG at 30%, capped at S$150,000

The Sustainability Reporting Grant covers 30% of qualifying report-preparation costs, up to S$150,000 of support. It is aimed at the companies already inside or approaching the mandatory-reporting perimeter: SGX-listed issuers and companies with revenue of at least S$100 million.

The arithmetic of the cap is worth internalising before you scope a project. At 30% support, the S$150,000 ceiling is reached at S$500,000 of qualifying costs (150,000 ÷ 0.30). Below that spend level, every qualifying dollar attracts thirty cents of support; above it, the marginal support is zero. For most first-time reporters the qualifying spend sits well under the ceiling, which means the practical question is not "will I hit the cap" but "which of my costs qualify" — covered below.

Route two: the SME programme at 50%, through October 2027

Separately from the SRG, a dedicated SME programme covers 50% of costs for companies producing their first sustainability report, and it runs through October 2027. Two features distinguish it from the SRG:

1. The support rate is higher — 50% versus 30% — reflecting that a first report is proportionally a much heavier lift for a small company.
2. It is time-boxed. October 2027 is not far when you account for the realistic production timeline of a first report: gathering twelve months of bills and fuel records, choosing emission factors, drafting, and internal review commonly consume one to two quarters. A company that wants the 50% support should be starting the work in 2026, not discovering the scheme in mid-2027.

If your customers are SGX-listed — and per the SGX climate-reporting timeline, all listed issuers report Scope 1 and 2 from FY2025, with STI constituents adding Scope 3 from FY2026 — supplier questionnaires are already flowing. A grant-supported first report is a durable answer to those questionnaires; an improvised spreadsheet is not.

What costs qualify

Both routes are aimed at the cost of preparing the report itself. In practice that clusters into three buckets:

• Advisory — external consultants who run materiality assessments, structure the report against the reporting framework, and review methodology.
• Tooling — software used to collect activity data, apply emission factors, and compile disclosures.
• First-report preparation — the direct work of producing the initial sustainability report, which is where the SME programme concentrates its 50% support.

Treat these buckets as orientation, not gospel. Qualifying-cost definitions are set and periodically revised by EnterpriseSG, and the difference between "qualifying" and "not qualifying" can move a five-figure sum. Confirm the current terms directly with EnterpriseSG before you sign an engagement letter or budget against the grant. This guide describes the structure of the two routes; it is not a substitute for the scheme documents.

A worked example

Take two Singapore companies budgeting in the same year.

Company A is SGX-listed with a mid-size advisory engagement: S$80,000 of external advisory and S$20,000 of tooling, for S$100,000 of qualifying costs. Under the SRG at 30%, support is S$30,000, leaving S$70,000 of net cost. The S$150,000 cap is nowhere in sight — it would take S$500,000 of qualifying spend to reach it.

Company B is a non-listed SME producing its first sustainability report because a listed customer asked for Scope 1 and 2 numbers. Its costs are leaner: S$24,000 of advisory and S$6,000 of tooling, for S$30,000 of costs. Under the SME programme at 50%, support is S$15,000, leaving S$15,000 net.

Note the asymmetry: Company B's support rate is higher even though its absolute grant is smaller. That is the design — the schemes scale support to the burden, not the company size. Note also what the grants do not change: the underlying data work. Both companies still need twelve months of electricity bills run against the Singapore grid emission factor and fuel receipts converted with published factors. That part is arithmetic, and arithmetic is cheap.

The FY2025 timing logic for listed companies

For listed issuers, the grant question is entangled with the reporting deadline. All SGX-listed companies report Scope 1 and 2 from FY2025, which means the FY2025 report is prepared and filed in 2026 — the preparation costs are being incurred now. Under SGX listing rules 711A and 711B the board owns that report, so the spend on advisory and tooling is not discretionary polish; it is the cost of meeting a live obligation. The SRG's 30% exists precisely to defray that cost — but grant applications and approvals take time, so the sequencing matters: confirm eligibility and apply before the engagement starts, not after the invoices arrive.

For non-listed SMEs the timing logic runs through customers rather than regulators: STI constituents report Scope 3 from FY2026, and their Scope 3 is built from suppliers' Scope 1 and 2. The SME programme's October 2027 window covers exactly the period in which those supplier requests intensify.

What the grants don't solve

An honest accounting of the limitations:

• Grants reimburse cost; they don't produce data. No scheme collects your utility bills or fuel records for you. The bottleneck for most first reports is data assembly, not funding.
• Terms change. Percentages, caps, eligibility thresholds and windows are all set by EnterpriseSG and subject to revision. Every figure in this guide should be re-verified against the scheme documents before you budget.
• A grant-funded report is still your report. Support for preparation costs does not transfer responsibility for the numbers — for listed issuers, that stays with the board.

Where a free calculator fits

The cheapest qualifying cost is the one you don't incur. The core Scope 1 and 2 arithmetic — bills in, emissions out — doesn't need a funded engagement: upload a utility bill or fuel receipt and tc02e extracts the activity data and applies published emission factors, showing the factor source and licence on every calculation. The free tier allows 3 document uploads a day anonymously, or 10 a day with an email address — no signup — and files are auto-deleted after 30 days. Spend the grant on the judgment-heavy work (materiality, framework mapping, advisory), not on arithmetic. For companies preparing an SGX-aligned pack, see what we offer businesses.

Sources

• EnterpriseSG — enterprise sustainability programmes and grant schemes: enterprisesg.gov.sg
• SGX RegCo — sustainability and climate reporting requirements for issuers: sgx.com/regulation
• GHG Protocol — Corporate Standard, the basis for Scope 1, 2 and 3 accounting: ghgprotocol.org
• EMA — Singapore Energy Statistics (grid emission factor): ema.gov.sg