Singtel ramps up 2030 emissions-reduction ambitions with new science-based targets 

SINGTEL has committed to undertake more aggressive cuts to its greenhouse-gas emissions with a set of new targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

On Thursday (Jan 11), the telecommunications provider said that its renewed targets included a group-wide 55 per cent reduction in Scope 1 and 2 direct and indirect greenhouse-gas emissions, along with a 40 per cent reduction in Scope 3 third-party emissions, by 2030 from a 2023 baseline.

Singtel group chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon said that the group’s second set of targets approved by SBTi represented a step-up in its environmental leadership. “These are aggressive goals, and our teams are developing comprehensive plans to achieve them,” he added.

The new targets supersede Singtel’s previously targeted 25 per cent reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2025 from a 2015 baseline, and a 42 per cent cut by 2030 as outlined in the group’s sustainability report for 2023.

The group said that as at end-2023, its Scope 1 and 2 emissions were reduced by more than 20 per cent from 2015 levels.

Singtel’s previous emissions-reduction targets from an earlier 2015 baseline also included a 30 per cent reduction in Scope 3 carbon emissions by 2030.

Scope 1 refers to direct greenhouse-gas emissions which are released through activity at a facility level, while Scope 2 refers to those released at the power station for the generation of electricity that a company consumes. Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions generated by upstream and downstream activities in the wider economy.

Earlier in July 2023, Singtel had announced that it had brought forward its net-zero goal by five years to 2045 from 2050.

The group, in its latest statement, said SBTi’s target validation team confirmed this new goal as “closely aligned with SBTi’s most stringent criteria”.

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SBTi’s chief executive Luiz Amaral said: “Singtel’s net-zero targets match the urgency of the climate crisis and set a clear example that their peers must follow.”

Shares of Singtel were trading S$0.01 or 0.4 per cent higher at S$2.39 as at 11.42 am on Thursday, after the news.