Reaching Peak of Singapore's Carbon Dioxide-equivalent Emissions

Prof Koh Lian Pin asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment when is Singapore expected to peak its carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.

The REACH public consultation on Singapore's Raised Climate Ambition was part of a comprehensive series of engagements that the Government has carried out since April 2022, under the Singapore Green Plan 2030. Through these engagements, we have received feedback and views from more than 1,700 stakeholders. The National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) has published the summary of feedback from these stakeholders, as well as more detailed feedback from the REACH public consultation on Singapore's Raised Climate Ambition on its website on 25 October 2022. Both reports address the question raised by Prof Koh Lian Pin.

The Singapore Government has just submitted Singapore's Second Update to our 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution, or NDC, to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In the submission, we indicated that Singapore intends to reduce emissions to around 60 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2030 after peaking our emissions earlier.

Peaking our emissions earlier than 2030 is significant and requires substantial transformations across industry, economy and society. Unlike countries that have access to abundant abatement resources domestically, Singapore has to rely on external measures, such as electricity imports and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS). Negotiations with foreign partners on several arrangements are still ongoing. As such, it is premature to announce a precise year in which our emissions will peak. The Government's best estimate is for our emissions to peak between 2025 and 2028, which will be earlier than our previous 2030 target, at around 65 million tonnes.

Notwithstanding these uncertainties, we remain committed to achieving what we set out in the Second Update to our 2030 NDC – for our emissions in 2030 to be around 60 million tonnes, or five million tonnes lower than what we set out in the First Update in 2020. This five million tonnes reduction is substantial. It is more than the total emissions from households today. We have put in place a comprehensive package of mitigation measures under the five pillars of the Green Plan to achieve this.