Singapore releases new emissions targets for 2035, on track to reaching net zero by 2050

Singapore on 10 February committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to between 45 million and 50 million tonnes (Mt) by 2035, down from around 60 Mt in 2030.

This new climate target for 2035 puts Singapore on track to reach net zero emissions by 2050, with the planned decline in emissions on a linear trajectory.

Singapore’s new climate targets were submitted to the UN on 10 February, the official deadline for countries to submit their 2035 targets.

Of the almost 200 countries party to the Paris Agreement, the world’s climate pact, more than 10 have submitted their new pledges, including Britain, the US, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates.

Singapore’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2022 were 58.59 Mt of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂ eq). CO₂ eq is a term used as a measurement of total greenhouse gases emitted. The Republic contributes about 0.1 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“The lower bound of 45 Mt CO₂ eq keeps us on a linear path to our net zero target in 2050, in line with international expectations,” said the National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS) in a statement on 10 February.

“The range target (of 45 Mt to 50 Mt CO₂ eq) takes into consideration the reality that as an alternative energy-disadvantaged island state, Singapore’s pace of decarbonisation depends heavily on developments in nascent mitigation technologies, and international collaboration,” NCCS added.
 

Climate change is caused by the ever-increasing amounts of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions being released from human activity, such as burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas for energy.

The 2035 climate change targets were supposed to be informed by the first global stocktake – a UN-level process that concluded in 2023. The stocktake, which happens every five years, prompts countries to review how they can do more to increase climate action.

Outcomes of the first global stocktake, which was co-facilitated by Singapore’s chief negotiator Joseph Teo, had called on countries to, among other things, scale up their use of renewables to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

Singapore currently relies on natural gas for some 95 per cent of its energy needs, while facing constraints in tapping renewable energy.

The most viable form of renewable energy for the Republic is solar energy, which currently contributes only about 2 per cent of the country’s electricity needs. Experts predict that by 2050, the proportion of solar energy in the country’s overall electricity mix is likely to be about 10 per cent.

Singapore, in its 31-page submission to the UN, said its new climate target was informed by the outcomes of the first global stocktake, and this ensures its domestic plans and policies to cut emissions are aligned with the stocktake.

For example, the country is maximising the use of solar energy despite its land constraints, by installing solar panels on reservoirs, and exploring their use on walkways, carparks, and building facades, the submission stated.

However, Singapore noted that achieving its 2035 target will be a challenge, given the nation’s resource scarcity and limited options for alternative energy.

“It will require more stringent regulations, pricing, and market policies to incentivise and enable all sectors of the economy to decarbonise. It will also require us to invest even more in low-carbon technologies, such as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage,” the Republic said in its submission.

Singapore’s constraints mean it would likely have to rely on international collaboration to meet its climate targets. The Republic had earlier announced plans to work with countries on multiple fronts – from importing low-carbon electricity from its neighbours to exploring cross-border carbon capture and storage, to buying carbon credits from overseas projects.

Buying carbon credits means that Singapore does not have to rely solely on cutting emissions domestically, but can offset its carbon footprint by investing in carbon projects elsewhere.

Under the Paris Agreement, countries are required to submit climate targets every five years, with every target more ambitious than the previous one.

These pledges are called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and they outline the climate action to be taken by each country in hopes of meeting the Paris pact’s goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels – which experts say is fast getting out of reach.

The global average temperature was 1.55 degrees Celcius above pre-industrial levels for the whole of 2024, marking the first time an individual year has exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“Singapore will continue to work on the range of mitigation measures available to us and explore other mitigation options to drive further emissions reductions. These solutions have the potential to grow the green economy, create jobs, and generate new opportunities in a low-carbon world,” added NCCS.
 

Countries including Singapore had finalised the first round of climate targets after the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015. Since then, Singapore has updated its NDCs two times – in 2020 and 2022.

Under its first pledge in 2015, Singapore said it would become greener economically and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted to achieve each dollar of gross domestic product by 36 per cent from 2005 levels, by 2030.

This refers to reducing emissions intensity by 36 per cent, meaning Singapore will ensure economic growth while emitting less.

In 2020, the country said it would peak its emissions at 65 Mt CO₂ eq around 2030.

Peaking emissions refers to the point when a country’s greenhouse gas emissions reach their highest level and then begin to decline consistently, with the aim of reaching net zero by mid-century. In other words, it refers to when a country’s contribution to climate change reaches its maximum yearly level.

At the 2021 UN climate change talks in Glasgow, nations were asked to revisit and strengthen their 2030 targets by the end of 2022.

So in 2022, Singapore announced that it would reach peak emissions earlier, and reduce this to around 60 Mt in 2030, and get to net zero by 2050.

In end-2024, it was revealed in a separate climate report that the Republic intends to peak its emissions at 64.43 Mt in 2028 before they come down after that.

In that report, Singapore outlined how it intends to meet its 2030 target of having its emissions drop to 60 Mt that year – by boosting industrial energy efficiency, using carbon capture technology and banking on clean energy imports as key measures.
 

Ms Melissa Low, a climate policy observer and research fellow at the NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, said on 10 February: “This is the first time Singapore has announced a downward emissions trajectory in its climate targets, after it planned to peak in 2028. It is unclear how much low-carbon technologies like carbon capture will contribute to this downward emissions trend.”

She said it is encouraging to see how Singapore’s 2035 targets have been informed by the first global stocktake, and that this may in part be due to the nation’s role in co-facilitating negotiations on this front.

“The (targets) make clear exactly how Singapore is addressing the key global stocktake outcome,” she said. It also shows that the global stocktake is effective in helping to advance countries’ climate ambitions, she added.

Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean, who also chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change, will elaborate on Singapore’s approach towards climate action and its 2035 targets at the upcoming 2025 debate on ministries’ budgets.

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