Speech - Address by Ms Low Khah Gek, CEO/ITE, at the Award Ceremony for the 3rd HSBC-NYAA-ITE Sustainability Initiative at ITE College East on 10 July 2025

In 2020, James, mooted the idea of The HSBC-NYAA-ITE Sustainability Initiative and he garnered the strong support of HSBC Singapore. The objective of this initiative was (and still is) to empower ITE students to take the lead in creating innovative carbon-saving solutions for companies by offering fresh perspectives and possibilities following their 'third-eye' audits of the company’s operations.

The HSBC-NYAA-ITE Sustainability Project began with 44 students in the inaugural run in 2020, followed by 69 students in the second run in 2022, and a significant jump to 153 students in the third run in 2024.

All participating students are trained by the Climate Consultant appointed by NYAA. With the guidance from the expert consultant, students would conduct a systematic analysis of each company’s operations and identify opportunities for reducing carbon emissions. Then the students would develop workable solutions, check and modify to achieve optimal effectiveness.  The end outcome will be energy-saving, water-saving, carbon-reduction solutions for the companies.

A key factor in the success of this Sustainability Initiative is the strong support and willingness of companies to come forward. In this current run, we have 46 companies - more than double the 20 companies that joined the second run. These 46 companies are from a diverse industry sectors, ranging from engineering services to waste management, lifestyle, logistics, hospitality, healthcare, food production and services, as well as building services.

Hence, we get a wide range of solutions created by the 153 students. Here are two examples:

1. A team of students from ITE College West partnered Daikin Airconditioning and developed a Smart Refrigerant Detector to detect refrigerant leaks early, so as to reduce both energy consumption and refrigerant loss. If implemented widely, this innovation has potential to significantly reduce Scope 1 and 2 emission by 20 percent and avoid up to 5,097 tons of CO₂ emissions.

2. A team of students from College East partnered Hoh Say Pte Ltd and developed an innovative water-saving device comprising a contactless sensor faucet, a water flow meter, and a smart microcontroller to regulate water usage when performing ablution before mosque prayers. Their solution successfully reduced water usage from 5.21 litres to just 0.775 litres per ablution, an impressive 85% reduction.

Today, we will be presenting awards to the top six winning teams in recognition of their innovative and practical solutions to enhance company operations in more environmentally-friendly ways. While we extend our warmest congratulations to the six winning teams, we would also like to commend all 153 participating students. You have gained invaluable knowledge and insights into a company’s operations, you have learnt to do real-world carbon audit and you have applied innovative thinking and your technical skills to develop useful solutions for the companies. We applaud all of you for your efforts and your commitment to reduce carbon emission. We also want to thank the 46 companies for coming forward to support the Initiative and our students.

Looking ahead, I am excited to continue our journey in strengthening the partnership between ITE, NYAA, HSBC, as well as businesses in Singapore. Together, we will build on this momentum to drive meaningful change and support our nation’s vision of achieving net zero by 2050.

On behalf of ITE, I would like to thank Dr Janil Puthucheary for gracing this event today. To NYAA, HSBC, and our business enterprise partners, I extend our deepest appreciation for the invaluable opportunities you have provided for our students. Let us work together to contribute towards a greener Singapore, not just for ourselves, but for many generations to come.

Thank you.