Debated in Parliament on 7 Nov 2023.
Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (a) whether there are plans to boost the availability of carbon credits for companies in Singapore; (b) what guidelines and rules are being established to ensure transparency and uphold public accountability of these carbon credits; and (c) what measures are in place to independently ascertain the veracity and integrity of forest conservation carbon credits.
Singapore is catalysing the development of credible carbon markets. Singapore actively co-facilitated Article 6 negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change conferences and participates in initiatives, such as the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative to promote harmonisation of rules and standards.
We are actively fostering partnerships in international carbon credits (ICCs) and have signed Memoranda of Understanding with more than 10 countries. Of these, Singapore has substantively concluded negotiations on government-to-government implementation agreements with Ghana and Vietnam, while negotiating with several other countries. Companies can source for ICCs from these host countries to offset up to 5% of their taxable emissions from 1 January 2024.
Singapore is committed to ensuring the environmental integrity of ICCs that companies can use to offset their carbon tax liabilities. In October 2023, we published the eligibility criteria which requires ICCs to comply with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and meet seven internationally recognised principles to demonstrate that they are of high environmental integrity. Later this year, we will publish a list of eligible host countries, carbon crediting programmes and methodologies that adhere to Singapore's ICC eligibility criteria.
The National Environment Agency has signed Memoranda of Understanding with five carbon crediting programmes to leverage on their assessments, expertise and capabilities. These carbon crediting programmes have established due diligence processes, including the use of independent, accredited third party verifiers to monitor, report and verify the integrity of ICCs. This provides assurance that ICCs issued under their registries and used to offset taxable emissions are robustly validated, verified, issued and retired.
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