Singapore tightens emissions pledge, launches national hydrogen strategy

Singapore has tightened its national climate target and plans to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and peak its emissions before its previously stated deadline of 2030, ahead of the upcoming COP27 climate talks, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said at the Singapore International Energy Week Oct. 25.

The city-state has raised it target as part of its Long-Term Low-Emissions Development Strategy, or LEDS, and plans to reduce emissions to around 60 million mtCO2e in 2030 after peaking emissions earlier as part of its revised 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution, the minister said.

"Singapore will submit these updates to the LEDS and 2030 NDC to the UNFCCC by the end of 2022," Wong said, explaining that the revisions add to its already announced targets.

He said Singapore had already exceeded its 2009 pledge to reduce emissions by 16% below business-as-usual levels by 2020, with emissions of 52.8 MtCO2e is equivalent to 32% below the BAU levels, leading to confidence in raising the targets further.

Singapore's public sector will commit to achieve net zero emissions around 2045, slightly ahead of the net zero 2050 but it will be contingent on the progress of technologies and international cooperation to enable mitigation measures, the minister said.

At the conference, Singapore also announced its national hydrogen strategy to develop low-carbon hydrogen as a fuel source for the power and industrial sectors, and to decarbonize the maritime and aviation sectors.

While various companies like Keppel and Sembcorp have been developing their own hydrogen pathways to import the fuel to Singapore, this is the first national level strategy to integrate hydrocarbon into the net zero plan.

"For Singapore, hydrogen can complement and diversify our power mix alongside solar, imported electricity, and other potential low-carbon energy sources such as geothermal energy," Wong said, adding that depending on technological developments and the development of other energy sources, hydrogen could supply up to half of the city-state's power needs by 2050.

He said Singapore's hydrogen strategy will have five key components -- experiment with advanced hydrogen technologies that are on the cusp of commercial readiness, conduct further research and development, work with the industry to scale up supply chains for low-carbon hydrogen, mass deployment of hydrogen including infrastructure to import, store and transform the hydrogen into power, and new tertiary industries like finance, trading, certifying, transporting, storage and deployment.

The government will launch an Expression of Interest for a small-scale commercial project on the use of ammonia for power generation, including developing ammonia supply chains to also support marine bunkering needs, the minister said.

"Such a project will allow us to assess the viability of ammonia -- as both a hydrogen carrier and as a direct fuel -- and develop regulations and ecosystem to support it. Further details will be released in the coming months," Wong said.

Singapore will also look at advancing the development of Guarantee of Origin certification methodologies, ensuring that methodologies are interoperable across jurisdictions, and building a trading and financing ecosystem to facilitate global trade of low-carbon hydrogen.