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National Environment Agency of Singapore signs Memorandum of Understanding with Global Carbon Council

Ramping up efforts on climate mitigation and to seek support of high-integrity carbon credits for compliance of Singapore’s carbon tax regime, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Global Carbon Council (GCC) – an internationally recognized offset program that is approved by the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) of United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The recent agreement comes as part of Singapore’s efforts to help operationalize Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. GCC receives a wide range of GHG reduction projects implemented globally and has instituted robust approaches and procedures to safeguard the environmental integrity of the carbon credits issued.

Dr. Yousef Alhorr, Founding Chairman of GCC, said, “Of all the signatories of the Paris Agreement, Singapore has paved the way for innovative, cost-effective but robust approaches to implement Article 6.2. Following Singapore’s second update to its Nationally Determined Contribution for 2030 and the addendum to its Long-Term Low-Emissions Development Strategy (LEDS) that raises its climate target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, we believe the collaboration between National Environment Agency (NEA) and Global Carbon Council (GCC) will prove to be highly impactful. We look forward to working with NEA to operationalize Article 6 of the Paris Agreement”

Following the announcement at Singapore’s Budget 2022, companies regulated under the Carbon Pricing Act will be allowed to use high-quality carbon credits to offset up to five percent of their taxable emissions from 2024. The MOU will facilitate Singapore-based companies in exercising this option through high-integrity carbon credits issued by international voluntary carbon market programs like GCC. Companies can acquire eligible carbon credits issued by GCC, and surrender them to the Singapore Government. This is subject to the carbon credits meeting the prescribed criteria set by the Singapore Government.

With more than 1,500 GHG mitigation project submissions, GCC program facilitates global stakeholders in implementing climate actions taking into account the carbon revenues to be accrued over their 10-year crediting periods. This goes a long way in contributing to achieve Paris Agreement objective of limiting global warming to 1.5°C

The collaboration with GCC builds on Singapore’s existing partnerships with other international offset programs and contributes to the mobilization of the supply of high-quality carbon credits internationally.