Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang): Sir, when we refer to the circular economy in terms of our reduce, reuse and recycle targets, our concern typically comes from when is the day that Pulau Semakau is no longer able to take any more refuse. But I would like to ask the National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) coordinating the whole-of-Government response about interaction between our circular economy outcomes, plans and targets with our national climate change targets.
First, I understand that products not made in Singapore, like agricultural imports, electronic imports, car imports and so on, are not counted under our carbon budget and, as such, are not covered under our nationally determined contribution (NDC). Does the Government have any mechanism to track this outsourced carbon? Is reducing these emissions covered under any Government strategy, like the Zero-waste Masterplan? From reading our NDC, it seems that the Government is working to calculate some degree of carbon abatement via recycling, but does this reflect that we track our outsourced carbon?
The built environment sector analyses and aims to reduce such carbon in the embodied carbon calculations, which are key to determining the greenness of a green building. Are other carbon intensive sectors, like marine and manufacturing, subject to such scrutiny? The European Union (EU) carbon border adjustment mechanism broadly targets goods and precursors that seem to be carbon-intensive and prone to carbon leakage. While I am not advocating for such a tariff, are we doing the analysis?
In view of this, I hope that we can fundamentally change our whole-of-Government key performance indicators (KPIs) to shift the focus from gross domestic product (GDP) growth to development KPIs, which include the compatibility of our country, where 1.5°C warming, in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
If we are to use the term “green growth”, it must be warranted. Not only do we as a country need to reduce the resource footprint per unit of GDP, we need to continuously reduce our resource footprint altogether and this includes not simply exporting pollution to other countries we trade with.
The Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security (Mr Teo Chee Hean): Ms Poh Li San, Mr Dennis Tan and Ms He Ting Ru asked about costs, opportunities and the circular economy. Ms He, in particular, talked about consumption-based emissions versus production-based emissions. I should explain that currently, the world operates on a production-based emissions system. The entire United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) architecture is based around that. This is the way that we count, officially, carbon emissions for each country. And also, the methodologies for this are very well developed.
3.30 pm
For consumption-based emissions, the methodologies are not standardised and they are not widely applied. And in any case, they will not be directly applicable to our carbon account under the Paris Agreement.
But we are encouraging companies to start accounting for these things because, eventually, if carbon emission costs around the world rise, this will affect them also through their supply chain. So, they ought to know where their supply chain risks are. We are working with the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and a consortium of partners to launch the Singapore Emission Factors Registry. This helps businesses in Singapore track and report their carbon emissions more accurately by using a database of emissions factors developed based on Singapore’s context. Prior to this, most Singapore businesses had to rely on emission factors from international sources for emissions reporting, especially for Scope 3 emissions.
But to remain competitive as an economy, we must take steps towards decoupling growth from emissions. That means, if we want to grow, we must decouple that from higher emissions. We must find a way of growing without the concomitant higher emissions that growth brings.
As we move towards a low-carbon future, businesses and economies that remain emissions intensive relative to their competitors will become less attractive. So, while there are costs in decarbonisation now, it is an investment in long-term survival and growth for our companies and also for Singapore’s economy.
We are helping businesses decarbonise by supporting efforts to improve their energy efficiency. For instance, we have enhanced the Resource Efficiency Grant for manufacturing facilities and data centres, by lowering the minimum qualifying criteria to support more emissions reduction projects. We have also launched schemes to support businesses in sustainability reporting.
The Chairman: Ms He Ting Ru.
Ms He Ting Ru: Sir, I just have a couple of clarifications in relation to the initiative of SBF, in terms of the consumption-based emissions initiative.
First, I would like the Senior Minister to clarify about whether there are any further details about timeline, for when this will be up and running. I know that it has been launched, but also the details of when we are going to onboard various industries.
Second, whether the Senior Minister can give a bit more details about which sectors will be prioritised for this. For the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism that I highlighted earlier, they target carbon intensive sectors, such as electricity, steel, cement and so on. So, I am just wondering whether we have a similar approach.
Mr Teo Chee Hean: Mr Chairman, I do not have the details on the timelines. It is something which is in the early days, and they are working on it. But we do have to take into cognisance carbon border adjustment taxes, and that is another reason why we need to put in our own measures and our own carbon tax and other measures in Singapore. Because if we do not, what will happen is, when our exports reach the borders of those countries which have a carbon border adjustment mechanism, they will get taxed there. And so, this has also been the reason why some of our neighbours have recently introduced their own carbon taxes, in order to make sure that they conform.
Prime Minister’s Office
28 February 2025
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=budget-2576
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 