Singapore announced that it would impose carbon tax from 2019 to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and make companies more competitive as global agreements on climate change take effect.Published on : Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Singapore announced that it would impose carbon tax from 2019 to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and make companies more competitive as global agreements on climate change take effect.
The Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said this environment friendly taxation would be levied on all facilities producing 25,000 tonnes or more of greenhouse gas emissions a year.
The tax to be applied to all sectors, will be Sg$5.0 ($3.8) per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions from 2019 to 2023, after which the levy will be reviewed and possibly raised to between Sg$10 and Sg$15 per tonne by 2030.
The Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat also addressed that Singapore produces less carbon emissions per dollar of GDP than most countries. He also unveiled the measure as part of the city-state’s 2018 budget.
The major economies have been scrambling to slash greenhouse gas emissions amid warnings from scientists about the potentially devastating impacts of climate change.
The most notable step taken by Singapore has been the 197-nation Paris Agreement, inked in 2015, which calls for limiting global warming to “well under” 2 degrees Celsius, and “pursuing efforts” to cap warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius.
This taxation will affect about 30-40 companies, mainly from the petroleum refining, chemicals and semiconductor sectors.
Now, Singapore ranks 26th out of 142 countries in terms of emissions per capita based on the latest International Energy Agency data. This happened largely due to its small size and dense population.
Tags: carbon emission, carbon emission taxation, environment friendly taxation, International Energy Agency, Singapore