ESG by ZYT← All answersSustainability, plainly
What does a small business in Singapore or Malaysia actually have to do?
Legally, in most cases, nothing. Neither Singapore’s nor Malaysia’s mandatory climate reporting rules reach a typical small or medium enterprise — both start with listed companies and work down to very large private ones. What you are likely to face instead is a customer, a bank or a tender asking for figures.
Setting the thresholds side by side makes the point:
| Singapore | Malaysia | |
|---|---|---|
| Listed companies | Scope 1 and 2 from FY2025 | Phased FY2025 to FY2027 by market and size |
| Large private companies | Revenue ≥ S$1bn and assets ≥ S$500m, from FY2030 | Large non-listed companies, from FY2027 |
| Everyone else | No mandatory requirement | Voluntary adoption |
So the honest answer for most SMEs is: you are not required to report, and you should not be sold a compliance panic. What you should do is be ready to answer, quickly and consistently, when a customer asks — because that request tends to arrive with a two-week deadline.
A reasonable first step is a carbon figure covering the things you already have bills for: electricity, fuel, water, waste. That is enough to answer most procurement questionnaires, and it is the foundation of anything more.
Sources
- Extended timelines for most climate reporting requirements — ACRA and SGX RegCo. Checked 2026-09-04.
- National Sustainability Reporting Framework — Securities Commission Malaysia. Checked 2026-09-04.
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Last reviewed 2026-09-04