Singapore's carbon market: the region's buyer, not its supplier

The policy picture

Singapore is the one Southeast Asian market where carbon has a price set by law. The tax rose to S$45 a tonne on 1 January 2026, with a stated path to S$50–80 by 2030, and companies can meet up to 5% of their taxable emissions with eligible international credits. Eligibility is set country by country through Implementation Agreements and published lists of approved methodologies.

The government is also a buyer in its own right. In September 2025 it contracted 2.175 million tonnes of nature-based credits from four projects in Ghana, Peru and Paraguay. The second tender, with stage two opened on 7 September 2026, seeks at least 12 million tonnes of authorised credits, nature-based and technology-based, from bidders that pre-qualified in stage one. Within ASEAN, only projects in Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos are eligible.

Singapore is also where the trading infrastructure sits. Climate Impact X, owned by DBS, Standard Chartered, SGX and Temasek, announced in August 2026 that it intends to merge with Carbonplace, with integration expected in early 2027.

What the registries show

Singapore hosts only a few projects: LED retrofits, an electric vehicle programme, a gas-fired power plant on Jurong Island and a CarbonCure concrete removals project that registered in September. Many more projects in the region list a Singapore-registered company as proponent; those count under the country where the project is.

Where the credits have come from

Credits issued and retired to date, Berkeley Voluntary Registry Offsets Database (2026-06 release).

The largest projects not yet issuing

Claimed tonnes per year are the proponent's own estimate as filed with the registry, before validation.

Who is developing

On Singapore's own projects the proponents are mostly building owners and their consultants. Singapore-domiciled developers matter far more abroad: check the developer pages linked from each other country guide.

Developers grouped across registries and spellings by CarbonIntel. A project with several proponents counts for each.

Latest registry moves

• 2026-09-25CO2 UTILIZATION IN CONCRETE - REMOVALS & REDUCTIONS – CarbonCure – Asia #1Verification approval requested → Registered

What we are watching

• The award of the 12 million tonne tender: which countries, which project types, at what price.
• Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia: whether any of them signs an Implementation Agreement.
• Updates to the eligibility list, which decide which methodologies count against the tax.