Singapore’s much-anticipated record of accredited worldwide carbon credit will solely settle for REDD+ tasks from Papua New Guinea in the event that they contemplate deforestation throughout total jurisdictions, versus particular areas outlined by particular person challenge builders.
REDD+ stands for “decreasing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation”, with the plus referring to extra actions round conservation, sustainable forest administration and carbon shares.
The forest conservation mechanism has undergone a disaster of confidence prior to now yr on the again of a number of media exposés and educational papers calling into query the environmental advantages of the credit issued by the world’s largest certifier Verra by way of the Voluntary Carbon Customary (VCS).
In a joint press assertion, the Ministry of Sustainability and the Setting (MSE) and the Nationwide Setting Company (NEA) mentioned that the carbon crediting programmes and methodologies included on Singapore’s eligibility record might differ for every host nation, primarily based on what’s agreed upon by all events beneath the respective implementation agreements.
Up to now, Singapore has substantively concluded negotiations for bilaterally-traded credit with Ghana, Vietnam, Paraguay and Bhutan. However Papua New Guinea is the only host nation that made the eligibility record, following the inking of Singapore’s inaugural Article 6 implementation settlement with the island state on the sidelines of COP28 in Dubai earlier this month.
Article 6 is a key a part of the Paris Settlement that stops double counting of emissions reductions by two international locations engaged in carbon buying and selling.
Carbon credit on Singapore’s whitelist can be utilized by giant emitters to offset as much as 5 per cent of their carbon tax obligations beginning subsequent yr, the place the carbon value shall be revised to S$25 (US$19) per tonne of emissions – up from the present stage of S$5 (US$4) per tonne. From 2026 onwards, tax-liable corporations should pay S$45 (US$34) for every tonne of their carbon emissions.
NEA, the administrator of the city-state’s tax regime, mentioned that the record shall be reviewed yearly “primarily based on the most recent science and proof.” This might entail the addition or delisting of carbon crediting programmes and methodologies.
In October, the Singapore authorities launched seven ideas to information its choice of accredited abroad carbon credit. These ideas embody guaranteeing credit aren’t double-counted, symbolize extra emissions cuts, are actual, have been quantified and verified, are everlasting, trigger no web hurt, and don’t trigger emissions to extend elsewhere.
Along with project-level REDD+ tasks beneath VCS, the federal government has additionally excluded biochar tasks utilizing the VM0044 methodology, which quantifies carbon dioxide removals from the conversion of waste biomass into biochar at new biochar manufacturing services.
Aside from Verra’s VCS, the opposite carbon crediting programmes recognised by Singapore pertaining to Papua New Guinea tasks are the Gold Customary for the International Objectives, American Carbon Registry and the International Carbon Council.
All permitted methodologies should be energetic ones printed earlier than 31 March 2023.
A shift to the jurisdictional strategy
Up to now, most REDD+ credit on the voluntary carbon markets are issued as regards to project-level baselines. Challenge-based forest offsets have been criticised for inflating their baselines by way of cherry-picking reference areas and failing to account for deforestation transferring to areas outdoors the challenge, a danger extra generally generally known as leakage.
Singapore’s eligibility record as regards to host nation Papua New Guinea explicitly excludes methodologies that fall beneath VCS’ “Sectoral Scope 14”, or the agriculture, forestry and different land makes use of class. These embody the 4 mostly used project-based REDD+ methodologies: VM0006, VM0007 VM0009 and VM0015.
The one exception is for REDD+ tasks aligned with a juridictional baseline and programme, in accordance to Verra’s Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ (JNR) framework. However solely about 40 or so of Verra REDD+ tasks which can be presently registered or within the pipeline are located inside this framework – which is estimated to be lower than half of the whole REDD+ tasks it has licensed to this point.
In a bid to revive confidence in forest carbon offsets, Verra is more and more pivoting in the direction of a jurisdictional strategy.
Simply final month, it unveiled its new “revolutionary” REDD+ methodology, which consolidates 5 current methodologies (the 4 talked about above in addition to VM0037) and requires all baseline information for tasks to be constant inside and throughout jurisdictions.
Eco-Enterprise has reached out to MSE and NEA for additional clarifications as as to whether there are plans to revise the record to incorporate this new REDD+ methodology.
In its press launch, Verra mentioned that it is going to be partaking nationwide governments to acquire this jurisdictional-level information, and expects it to be accessible for all current REDD+ tasks by the beginning of 2025. Although a particular timeline has not been given, Verra said that every one present prevented deforestation tasks shall be required to transition to its new methodology.
The creation of this new methodology will consequence within the deactivation of VM0009 – the primary methodology ever written beneath the VCS normal by distinguished REDD+ challenge developer Wildlife Works – in addition to VM0037. Verra can even be updating VM0007, which is able to proceed to be accessible beneath sure circumstances for a restricted time.
Additional updates are anticipated to return for the opposite two methodologies, VM0006 and VM0015, by the primary quarter of 2024.
