Reaching Peak of Singapore's Carbon Dioxide-equivalent Emissions
Ministry of Sustainability and the EnvironmentSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Prof Koh Lian Pin's inquiry regarding when Singapore’s carbon dioxide equivalent emissions are expected to reach their peak. Minister Grace Fu Hai Yien responded that the Government has submitted its Second Update to the 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution to the UNFCCC. She announced a target to reduce emissions to approximately 60 million tonnes by 2030, which represents a five-million-tonne reduction from previous projections. Minister Grace Fu Hai Yien estimated that emissions will now peak between 2025 and 2028 at around 65 million tonnes, which is earlier than the original 2030 timeline. She emphasized that achieving this requires substantial economic transformation and reliance on external measures like electricity imports and carbon capture under the Singapore Green Plan 2030.
Transcript
1 Prof Koh Lian Pin asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment when is Singapore expected to peak its carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.
The Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien): Mr Speaker, may I have your permission to address this question from Prof Koh Lian Pin and written Question No 14 from Member Ms He Ting Ru, as well as Question No 29 for oral answer raised by Prof Koh Lian Pin from yesterday, in a single reply, please?
Mr Speaker: Please do.
Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien: 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.