Amendments to Carbon Pricing Act Tabled in Parliament

The carbon tax regime in Singapore is governed under the Carbon Pricing Act 2018 (“CPA“) that provides for, among other things, requirements relating to registration, reporting and payment of tax in relation to greenhouse gas emissions. On 3 October 2022, the Carbon Pricing (Amendment) Bill (“Bill“) was tabled for First Reading in Parliament. The Bill seeks to amend the CPA in the following key aspects:

• Revising the carbon tax rate and carbon price;
• Providing for the grant of allowances for eligible taxable facilities to reduce carbon tax;
• Renaming “carbon credits” as “fixed-price carbon credits”, and providing for the surrender of eligible international carbon credits in place of fixed-price carbon credits for the purposes of paying the carbon tax. There are also provisions to establish the International Carbon Credits Registry and international carbon credit registry account, as well as for various related matters; and
• Revising registration and emissions reporting obligations (in particular, where there has been a transfer of operational control over a business facility), and the basis for liability for carbon tax.

This Update broadly outlines certain key features of the Bill.