Singapore financial district vulnerable to increasing sea levels: CBRE

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Prime workplace property in Singapore’s central downtown (CBD) is highly susceptible to the risk of flooding as sea levels rise due to global warming, property consultants CBRE said in a report on Thursday.

It said 51 buildings with about 20.8 million square feet (1.9 million sq m) of office space are in high flood danger locations, assuming that typical global temperature levels increase 1.5 degree Celsius as a U.N. panel has approximated may occur between 2030 and2052

The city-state’s Marina Bay area with skyrocketing workplace towers worth billions of dollars is the most vulnerable, CBRE said.

Much of Singapore’s monetary district, where numerous multi-national companies and banks have workplaces, is developed on recovered land and is less than 5 metres above water level.

Presuming global temperatures rise by 4 degrees Celsius by the year 2100, an additional 4 million square feet of office location across 13 buildings in the CBD may be under hazard, CBRE said.

” Singapore is susceptible to prolonged heat waves, increased flash floods and increasing sea levels as an outcome of climate change,” CBRE experts stated in their report.

” While the government has adopted several pre-emptive policies to reduce the effect, the steps do not completely eradicate the risks.”

Securing Singapore against rising water level could cost S$100 billion ($72 billion) or more over 100 years, according to the federal government.

In 2019, it said it would spend S$400 million to update and keep the country’s drains pipes and strengthen its flood resilience.