Singapore Should Take Accelerated Action To Reduce Carbon Emissions – Climate Expert

Singapore is implementing policies and making commitments to reduce carbon emissions, but “accelerated action” is required in the future, according to a climate expert on Wednesday.

Professor Mark Howden’s statement came just one day after Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Grace Fu, announced that Singapore had submitted a second update to its 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Prof Howden, director of the Australian National University’s Institute for Climate, Energy, and Disaster Solutions, stated that while climate science is a collaborative issue that necessitates a collective solution, and that “every bit helps,” Singapore must act faster.

In Singapore Parliament, Ms. Fu said, “The country intends to reduce emissions of around 60M tonnes of CO2 which will be equal to 2030”. This is approximately 5 million tonnes lower than what Singapore had set out in the initial update of 2020. Following this, she also mentioned,  “The reduction of 5 million tonnes is “substantial” and is more than the total emissions from households today.”

Having said that, it is clear that Singapore is implementing policies that will, eventually, significantly reduce emissions. Prof. Howden claims that Singapore’s plans to increase the country’s carbon tax will “significantly reduce” emissions quickly. Singapore will increase its carbon tax to S$25 per tonne for greenhouse gas emissions in 2024 and 2025, and S$45 per tonne for emissions in 2026 and beyond, following the passage of the Carbon Pricing (Amendment) Bill in Parliament on Tuesday.