Dear members and friends of SCL(S),

As we mark Earth Day on 22 April, a more pressing question arises: are our legal and contractual frameworks keeping pace with the realities of climate risk?

The designating of 2026 as the Year of Climate Adaption (to signal climate adaption as a national priority) by Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment¹ signals a decisive shift towards resilience in the built environment, recognising that climate risk is no longer theoretical but immediate and systemic. Ministerial speeches this year have emphasised that climate change is now an immediate, systemic challenge, requiring coordinated action in infrastructure, energy, and urban development.

In my last SCL(S) Newsletter message in December 2023² , I noted the growing importance of ESG in construction law and the need to move from awareness to implementation, drawing on Second Minister for National Development and Finance - Minister Indranee Rajah’s emphasis on the role of legal and governance frameworks in advancing sustainability³ . At the SGFIN Sustainability Summit on 24^th March 2026, Minister Indranee further underscored that climate risks threaten economic stability, reinforcing the need to translate policy into practical legal and contractual frameworks.⁴ This transition is no longer aspirational, it is now underway and accelerating.

The challenge now is not policy, but implementation - how climate adaptation is embedded in contracts, risk allocation, procurement frameworks and dispute resolution. The SCL(S), consistent with its mandate under Article 3 of its Constitution⁵ , is uniquely positioned to shape this transition—through education, development of practical ESG guidance (including contractual frameworks, risk allocation models and approaches to emerging disputes⁶), and facilitating collaboration between industry and regulators to align legal framework with evolving climate priorities.

In time, this may increasingly require the construction law community to move towards greater standardisation, developing consistent approaches that can guide industry practice across projects and jurisdictions, including potential SCL-led protocols, to promote consistency and best practice in ESG and sustainable construction. Do join SCL(S) on 19^th May 2026⁷ for its seminar where Architect Catherine Loke⁸ and I⁹ will examine ESG in construction law - requirements in Singapore’s built environment, examining the broader ecological context, including planetary boundaries, and the rise of climate-related disputes and Singapore’s role as a dispute resolution hub.

Ultimately, climate risk that is not addressed in contracts will not disappear—it will be redistributed. If climate risk is not properly allocated, priced and managed within contracts, it will inevitably re-emerge as disputes. The question is whether the industry addresses this proactively or reactively when disputes arise. Climate adaptation is not solely a technical or policy challenge, it is fundamentally a legal one. The construction law community therefore has a critical role in shaping the frameworks that will underpin a more resilient and sustainable built environment.

Anil Changaroth
Chair, Environmental Law & Sustainability Focus Group & Council Member
SCL (Singapore)

Footnotes

¹ https://www.mse.gov.sg/yoca/

² https://www.scl.org.sg/enews/Issue_67_Newsletter_December_2023.html

³ At Singapore Contractors Association Limited’s annual dinner on 24th October 2023 - https://www.mnd.gov.sg/newsroom/speeches/view/speech-by-2m-indranee-rajah-at-the-singapore-contractors-association-limited-(scal)-annual-dinner

⁴ https://greencentralbanking.com/2026/03/24/mounting-climate-and-physical-risks-threaten-economic-foundation-says-singapore-minister/

⁵ https://scl.org.sg/images//Homepage/SCLS_Constitution_amendments_approved_at_AGM_on_24_Aug2023_as_approved_by_ROS_on_7_Sept_2023.pdf

⁶ In Commonwealth Lawyers Associations’ 1st edition of Climate Justice Newsletter, Anil Chanagroth writes on Restorative Justice For Climate Conflicts: Rethinking the Future of Appropriate Dispute Resolution was published in - https://www.commonwealthlawyers.com/cla/restorative-justice-for-climate-conflicts-rethinking-the-future-of-appropriate-dispute-resolution-by-anil-changaroth-and-lenny-rahman/

⁷ https://scl.org.sg/events-main/upcoming-events/icalrepeat.detail/2026/05/19/421/-/programme-speaker-updated-esg-in-construction-law-19-may-2026-5-00-7-30pm-gmt-8.html

⁸ https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-loke-655082200/

⁹ Anil initiated the setting up and was chair (2023-24) of the Law Society of Singapore’s ESG Working Group (https://www.lawsociety.org.sg/esg-hub/esg-working-group/). Together with Catherine Loke, they are also the founding president and member respectively of The Circle of Human Sustainability (https://tchs-global.org/).