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Jul 11, 2019

An overview of carbon tax in Singapore

Jul 11, 2019

1. Background

The Singapore government has implemented a carbon tax effective from 2019 at a rate of $5 per tonne of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions until 2023.

  • The Greenhouse Gas Measurement and Reporting Regulations 2017 (GHG M&R Regulations hereafter) was gazetted on 22 December 2017 under the Energy Conservation Act (ECA).

  • Prior to implementation GHG M&R regulations, registered corporations under the ECA have been reporting energy and non-energy data under the Energy Conservation (Energy Management Practices) Regulations (i.e. EMP Regulations).

  • Under the GHG M&R Regulations, a registered corporation/facility will be subject to M&R requirements when its total direct GHG emissions (Scope 1) exceeds the threshold of 25,000 tCO2e (i.e. tonnes of carbon dioxide emission) in any calendar year.

  • Sectors directly emitting GHG that will be affected by this carbon tax include refineries, petrochemicals, chemicals, semiconductor, power generation, electronics, biomedical, and waste and water management.


2. Scope of GHG M&R requirements

Type of processes or activities resulting in GHG emissions for carbon tax payment include:

  • Fuel combustion

  • Industrial processes and product use (IPPU).

GHG emissions directly released into the atmosphere from both fuel combustion and IPPU activities within the facility boundary and under the operational control of the registered Corporation/facility, are to be measured and reported in accordance with the M&R requirements.

The GHGs to be accounted for in the emission report include:

  1. Carbon dioxide (CO2) (excluded from biomass used for fuel combustion)

  2. Methane (CH4),

  3. Nitrous oxide (N2O),

  4. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),

  5. Perfluorocarbons (PFCs),

  6. Nitrogen Trifluoride (NF3) (excluded from biomass used for fuel combustion), and

  7. Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).


3. Submission of Monitoring Plan and Emission Report

Under the GHG M&R regulations, the registered corporation will be required to submit the following items for NEA’s approval for each corporation/ facility exceeding the threshold:

A. Monitoring Plan (MP)

  • MP is a document that identifies and describes the facility’s GHG emission sources and streams, emission quantification methods and quality management framework.

  • The MP submission includes MP template (which can be downloaded from the Emission Data Monitoring and Analysis [EDMA] system in NEA website) and supporting documents.

  • NEA does not stipulate the method used for emission quantification. The facility has the flexibility to decide on the most appropriate emissions quantification methods and tiers to compute GHG emissions. The emissions quantification methods applied should ensure accurate and robust computation of the GHG emissions and be based on technical or scientific considerations.

  • MP needs to be endorsed by the Chief Executive Office or equivalent and approved by NEA.

B. Emissions Report (ER)

  • The ER for each reporting period shall contain information on the facility’s activity data, computation for each direct GHG emissions, and the total direct GHG emissions.

  • The ER shall be prepared based on the approved MP.

4. Timeline for payment of carbon tax

*The Verification company will be accredited by NEA and a list of accredited companies will be published on NEA website from July 2019 onwards.


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