Singapore has been selected to anchor a World Bank-initiated platform that connects information from carbon registries worldwide to enhance transparency and avoid double counting of mitigation outcomes, Low Yen Ling, Minister of State with Singapore’s Ministry of Trade & Industry, said Sept. 26 at the APPEC Conference hosted by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
There is currently a variety of carbon registries, established by both international organizations and government bodies of different nations. A key challenge is how to consolidate information from all these domestic and international registries regarding carbon credit issuance, trading and retirement.
The platform, to be established under the World Bank’s Climate Warehouse Initiative, is designed to consolidate different registries’ carbon data to create a transparent marketplace on a global scale.
“It [Climate Warehouse Initiative] helps prevent double issuance and claiming of the same carbon credit in multiple registries by different actors,” Low said in her speech.
Once the infrastructure is launched, Singapore will become the data backbone of the global carbon market, which will also promote carbon trading and carbon services in this city state and the ASEAN region.
Low said there has already been growth in demand for carbon services in Singapore, and the government has devoted efforts to nurture more carbon professionals.
According to the World Bank’s website, the data infrastructure is expected to support services in both public and private sectors, providing aids to compliance reporting, carbon credit transactions and benchmarking services.
“Many companies continue to view Singapore as the commodity trading hub of choice,” Low said in the speech, adding that besides trading of conventional commodities, more companies were starting to look at new areas like carbon and biofuels.
“We aim to nurture strong partnerships between global energy companies, including players like S&P Global Commodity Insights, providing transparency, pricing insights, and also the startup ecosystem to innovate, to co-create novel energy solutions,” Low said.
At the APPEC Conference, Felipe Bayon, CEO of Ecopetrol, the largest and primary petroleum company in Colombia, said Ecopetrol established its first international trading office in Singapore this year and has plans for carbon trading in the city-state alongside its conventional trading activities.
Sing Fuels, a Singapore home-grown international trading company, is currently exploring plans to launch new desk in several areas including biofuels, fuel oil, LPG and carbon management services, Low said in the speech.
Source: Platts