Papua New Guinea is sole host country on Singapore’s carbon credit eligibility list

The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) published their eligibility list under the International Carbon Credit (ICC) Framework. It is set to take effect on January 1, 2024.

This came after Singapore scored its first carbon credit transfer agreement with Papua New Guinea on December 8, confirming that carbon credits from the Oceanian country will make up the pool of credits Singapore’s high emitters can use to offset up to five per cent of their taxable emissions from 2024.

It is also during 2024 that the carbon tax rate will rise to S$25 per tonne of emissions, from the current S$5 per tonne.

Though the Singapore government indicated that it would unveil a list of eligible host countries by the end of the year, Papua New Guinea was the sole host country on the eligibility list of ICCs published on Tuesday (Dec 19).

NEA, as the administrator of Singapore’s carbon tax regime, intends to review and update the eligibility list annually to “maintain relevance and uphold high environmental integrity standards, based on the latest science and evidence”.

Such a review will also include the addition or delisting of carbon crediting programmes and methodologies.
 

MSE and NEA said eligible carbon crediting programmes and their methodologies may be different for each host country, as host countries also have their own criteria.

NEA also published a guidance document for companies on the administrative processes under the ICC Framework, which can be found on the agency’s website.

On December 3 and 4, Singapore inked several preliminary carbon credit deals at the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference in Dubai.

The city-state also managed to “substantively conclude” separate negotiations with Bhutan and Paraguay – formally wrapping up negotiations on Article 6 implementation agreements with four countries, including Ghana and Vietnam.

Article 6 aims to prevent double counting, so that both seller and buyer cannot claim reductions or removals on the same amount of credits.

Papua New Guinea was one of 13 countries with whom Singapore negotiators had memorandums of understandings (MOUs) to collaborate on carbon credits, before confirmation of the deal took place on December 8.

When asked about the status of Singapore’s implementation agreement discussions with other countries, MSE referred The Business Times to an earlier statement noting that Singapore will continue to work on closing deals.

Status of Singapore's carbon credit collaboration with other countries 

Source: Compiled by The Business Times from MTI, NCCS, and MSE.

Based on Singapore’s eligibility list of ICCs, there are currently four carbon crediting programmes under Papua New Guinea as the host country.

These are: Gold Standard for the Global Goals, Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), American Carbon Registry, and Global Carbon Council.

Their relevant methodologies include all active ones published before March 31, 2023, with certain exceptions.

VCS is set by non-profit organisation Verra, and is the world’s most widely used greenhouse gas crediting programme.

Eligible methodologies under this programme exclude VM0044 Methodology for Biochar Utilisation in Soil and Non-Soil Applications v1.1, which yields carbon credits from carbon dioxide removals from the conversion of waste biomass into biochar at biochar production facilities.
 

Also excluded are methodologies governing the issuance of forest conservation carbon credits, known as Redd+, that have come under intense scrutiny amid heightened scepticism about the integrity of their emissions reductions claims.

Redd+ stands for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation.

Just as the government had previously indicated, Redd+ credits will be recognised only if they come from projects that consider deforestation across an entire jurisdiction, not just deforestation on a project level.

The 10 VCS’ agriculture, forestry and other land-use methodologies under the released eligibility list qualify projects developed using the jurisdictional and nested Redd+ framework under certain scenarios.

Regardless of the methodology adopted, MSE and NEA added that eligible VCS projects must demonstrate sustainable development contributions or co-benefits of the relevant mitigation activity by submitting a verification report.

The full eligibility list is available at www.carbonmarkets-cooperation.gov.sg

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