Alignment of New Coal Gasification Plant on Jurong Island with Singapore's Climate Change Commitments

12 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) (a) how will the substantial emissions from the new coal gasification plant on Jurong Island align with our climate change commitments and our declaration of Year of Climate Action; and (b) how does the Government decide on business opportunities versus environmental concerns and international commitments.

The Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) (Mr Lim Hng Kiang): Mr Speaker, Sir, under the Paris Agreement, Singapore has pledged to reduce our emissions intensity by 36% from 2005 levels by 2030, and to stabilise our emissions with the aim of peaking around the same time. A lower emissions intensity means that each dollar of gross domestic product (GDP) will be achieved more efficiently and with a lower impact to the environment.

Under the Jurong Island Version 2.0 initiative, Singapore explored alternative feedstock options to enhance the long-term competitiveness of the energy and chemicals sector, while keeping to our climate change commitments and ensuring environmental concerns were addressed. After extensive evaluation, gasification was assessed to best meet industry's demand for competitive hydrogen and carbon monoxide as feedstock. To minimise the impact on the environment, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) has worked together with the Economic Development Board and the plant operator to put in place strict regulations and standards on emissions of carbon dioxide and air pollutants, as well as to deploy best-in-class mitigation technologies. The plant's emissions will also be closely monitored to minimise the impact on the environment, and the plant will be subject to the carbon tax that was announced in Budget 2017.

With 2018 designated as the Year of Climate Action, the Government will increase efforts to raise awareness and increase involvement of companies and individuals on the necessity and the benefits of taking action to achieve sustainable growth and move towards a low-carbon future.

Mr Speaker: Mr Louis Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): I thank the Minister for the reply. I have two supplementary questions. One is, how will the substantive amount of ash be disposed of, specifically the fly ash, as this is known to be hazardous? Second, which is important, is how do we reconcile the different messages we are sending to the public now? On one hand, we are saying it is a Year of Climate Action to reduce our carbon footprint but, on the other hand, we are opening up this coal gasification plant which will increase our carbon footprint?

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: In granting the licence to the operator, MEWR has set very strict conditions on the disposal of the ash, in particular, that it will not add to the dumping requirements that we have. The company will meet those regulations.

On reconciling the two, this is a delicate balance that we have to try to achieve. On the one hand, we have a fairly thriving chemicals and energy sector, contributing 1.8% of our GDP, employing more than 25,000 workers, all with very good jobs. We have to maintain the competitiveness of that sector and, for that, we need competitive feedstock – hydrogen and carbon monoxide. We have explored the different ways of introducing that feedstock and gasification appears to be the most sensible approach.

At the same time, we have made very strong commitments on the Paris Agreement and the Singapore Government intends to meet those commitments. So, in balancing the two, we have reached an agreement with the operator on the regulations that they have to meet, both in carbon dioxide emissions as well as in other standards. And they have agreed to deploy best-in-class technologies.

Mr Speaker: Mr Louis Ng.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang: Could I check where would the ash be disposed of? The second question is whether we considered renewable energy instead. Minister Ong Ye Kung has replied to the earlier Parliamentary Question about how that is a growing sector and whether the Ministry of Trade and Industry will consider that instead of this coal gasification plant.

Mr Lim Hng Kiang: The company has made commitments to recycle the ash, and as for renewable energy, the gasification project is not an energy project, it is not a generation company (genco). It is to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide or, essentially, carbon. Because as feedstock to the petrochemical sector, you need more C and more H². And to do that, you need to convert coal into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Because we are not adding on to refineries in Singapore, we have 1.3 million barrels of refining capacity and that has not changed for many decades, so we need additional feedstock from other sources. Therefore, we have looked towards gasification of coal. I want to assure Members here that, in terms of energy generation, we are still depending on natural gas which is the least pollutive of all and, of course, supplemented by solar energy in a limited way. So, this is not a genco.