Singapore publishes new regulations to offset carbon tax by carbon credits

On October 6, 2023, the following three Carbon Pricing Act provisions were implemented in Singapore. The rules will all go into force on January 1, 2024. In Singapore, qualified international carbon credits (ICC) that satisfy the specified requirements will be available for carbon tax payments under the Carbon Pricing (Amendment) Act 2022, which was enacted on March 7, 2023, in addition to the “fixed-price carbon credit” (FPCC). The requirements for international carbon credits, their application, and their surrender are outlined in the three regulations.

• Carbon Pricing (Measurement, Reporting and Verification) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

• Carbon Pricing (Registration and General Matters) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

• Carbon Pricing (Carbon Tax and Carbon Credits Registry) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

“International Carbon Credit (ICC)”

• The certified GHG emissions reductions or removals must not be counted more than once in contravention of the Paris Agreement adopted on 12 December 2015, and any guidance adopted by the Conference of the parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to that Agreement.
• The certified GHG emissions reductions or removals must have occurred or must occur between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2030
• The certified GHG emissions reductions or removals must exceed:-
  • Any GHG emissions reductions or removals required by any law or regulatory requirement of the host country.
  • Any GHG emissions reductions or removals that would otherwise have occurred in a conservative and business‑as‑usual scenario.
• The certified GHG emissions reductions or removals must have been quantified based on a realistic, defensible, and conservative estimate of the amount of GHG emissions that would have occurred in a business‑as‑usual scenario, assuming the project or programme that generated the certified GHG emissions reductions or removals had not been carried out.
• The certified GHG emissions reductions or removals must have been calculated in a manner that is conservative and transparent and must have been measured and verified by an accredited and independent third‑party verification entity before the international carbon credit was issued.
• Where there is a risk that the certified GHG emissions reductions or removals may be reversible, there must be measures in place to monitor, mitigate and compensate for any material reversal of the certified GHG emissions reductions or removals.

• The project or programme that generated the certified GHG emissions reductions or removals must not violate:-
  • Any applicable laws of the host country, whether provincial or national.
  • Any applicable regulatory requirements of the host country, whether provincial or national
  • Any international obligations of the host country.
• Where there is a risk that the carrying on of the project or programme that generated the certified GHG emissions reductions or removals may have resulted in or may result in a material increase in GHG emissions at any place other than the site of that project or programme, there must be measures in place to monitor, mitigate and compensate any such material increases in GHG emissions.