The Singapore government has published a list of eligible international carbon credits under the International Carbon Credit (ICC) framework, which companies can use to offset up to 5pc of their carbon tax liability.
The list will be effective from 1 January 2024 and was published by the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) on 19 December. It will be reviewed annually to maintain relevance and uphold high environmental integrity standards, which will include the addition or removal of carbon crediting programmes and methodologies.
Its publication follows Singapore signing its first carbon credits implementation agreement with Papua New Guinea on 8 December on the sidelines of the recent UN Cop 28 climate conference, aligned with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
Papua New Guinea is the only host country on the list for now, and the carbon crediting programmes include the Gold Standard for the Global Goals — which allows independent carbon registry Gold Standard to better quantify project impacts towards the UN's sustainable development goals, and provide new funding sources for high-impact ones. There are also Verra's Verified Carbon Standard, the American Carbon Registry and the Global Carbon Council. The carbon project methodologies include all active ones published before 31 March this year, except for some as detailed in the list.
MSE and NEA previously defined in October the requirements for carbon credits to be used under the ICC framework, under seven "principles" which include additional — meaning the carbon credits must derive from a project that would not have been viable without financing from such credits, as well as a guarantee that no double counting has occurred — as well as others.
