Singapore to commit to net zero by 2050, peak emissions before 2030: DPM Wong
Jurong Lake District to be turned into sustainable zone in support of higher ambitions
Wong Pei Ting
SINGAPORE will commit to shorter timelines for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with accelerated targets for achieving peak and net-zero emissions, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced on Tuesday (Oct 25).
The country will now aim to reduce emissions to around 60 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2030 after peaking emissions earlier. This will replace Singapore’s current pledge to achieve peak emissions at around 65 MtCO2e around 2030, an improvement that Wong said was equivalent to reducing the country’s current transport emissions by two-thirds.
Singapore will also commit to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The current official long-term low-emissions development strategy is to halve emissions from its peak to 33 MtCO2e by 2050 and net zero as soon as viable in the second half of the century.
The new targets will be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, ahead of the COP27 climate change meeting in Egypt on Nov 6.
Singapore will also turn the 410-ha Jurong Lake District into a sustainability zone, with the aim of achieving net-zero emissions for new developments in the area around 2045. The district, which will be the largest business district outside the city centre, is expected to be fully developed in the next 20 to 30 years, and provide 100,000 new jobs and 20,000 new homes.
For the district to attain net zero, the government intends to ensure that all new developments minimally achieve the Building and Construction Authority’s Green Mark Platinum Super-Low Energy standards.
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They will also look into maximising solar energy deployment on buildings and vacant land there, as a transitory measure while the grid is being decarbonised over time, among other measures.
Speaking at Singapore International Energy Week, Wong revealed that the more ambitious targets were set because Singapore managed to exceed its 2020 target by 16 percentage points.
The target, which was set ahead of the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, was to cut emissions by 16 per cent below business-as-usual levels by 2020. Instead, Singapore managed a 32-per-cent reduction and emitted 52.8 MtCO2e in 2020, a level that is more than 24 million tonnes lower than initially projected.
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Wong said this has “given us the confidence to look ahead and to consider how we can strengthen our commitment to further climate action”.
Wong added that net zero by 2050 is “really a stretch goal” as the country has limited options to deploy renewable energy at scale, but Singapore wants to do its part in the global effort to address the climate crisis.
He noted that Singapore’s ability to fulfil its new pledges are contingent on technological maturity and effective international cooperation.
“Like all parties, our ability to fulfil our pledges will depend on the continued international commitment by everyone to the Paris Agreement and their climate pledges,” he added.
Meanwhile, the government released findings from a recently concluded public consultation via government feedback portal Reach, which drew 460 responses.
Among the respondents, 66 per cent agreed that the ambition to achieve net zero by 2050 was “not sufficiently ambitious”; 26 per cent said it was “just right”. Eight per cent felt it was “too ambitious”.
Changes to Singapore’s 2030 targets are not as welcomed though, with just 62 per cent indicating that they should be enhanced.
Among the qualitative responses received was a call for the government to lower the 25,000-tonne carbon tax threshold to include smaller emitters and consider a progressive system of taxation, under which larger emitters and those with greater means bear higher costs.
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