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Four ways the LTA plans to cut carbon emissions
$35B GREEN BOND LIFTS SUSTAINABLE FINANCING CAPABILITIES
Singapore’s plan to sell up to $35b green sovereign bonds through 2030 will help develop the country’s sustainable financing capabilities and support its climate agenda, according to Fitch Ratings.
The funds raised may be spent to promote fields such as adaptation to climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable resource usage, renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, sustainable water management, pollution control, and green buildings, Fitch added.
The bond issuance is also a testament to the Singapore government’s commitment to long-term social challenges, such as sustainable development and combating climate change. The government targets for carbon emissions to reach net-zero by or around 2050, with the establishment of a broader green finance ecosystem by then.
This in turn could support the funding of sustainable finance initiatives both in Singapore and the broader region, and enhance the Lion City’s existing strengths as a financial center.
Green initiatives
Singapore’s inaugural green sovereign bonds are likely to be issued in the second half of 2022. Even before the green sovereign bonds, Singapore has already dipped its toes in issuing green bonds. The local Housing & Development Board separately raised S$1b in March 2022 for the development of green buildings.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s taxonomy initiative would support the development of this ecosystem by providing a classification scheme and enhancing disclosure, according to Fitch, and would reduce green washing risks.
The taxonomy’s second draft proposes a ‘traffic-light’ scheme for the three sectors most important for greenhouse gas emissions: energy, transport, and real estate.
LTA aims to have a 100% cleaner energy bus fleet by 2040
Four ways the LTA plans to cut carbon emissions
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has announced its commitment to reduce land transport emissions by 80% by 2050. The emissions have peaked at 7.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2016, well ahead of the 2030 timeline set.
To pave the way, the LTA has enumerated four steps to meet its goal.
The LTA said it aimed to have a 100% cleaner energy bus fleet by 2040. So far, 60 electric buses have been purchased and deployed to help better understand the operational and technical considerations of a larger-scale rollout.
By 2030, half of the public bus fleet will be electric buses, as LTA replaces diesel buses that have reached their statutory lifespan. It will replace over 400 diesel buses by 2025.
The LTA will also extend the statutory lifespan of electric taxis from eight to 10 years. This will give operators more time to optimise their electric taxi investments. For private hire cars, 50% of the GrabRentals fleet will go electric by 2030. LTA will continue working closely with private hire car operators to increase electric vehicle (EV) adoption.
To drive the adoption of electric vehicles, the government aims for every HDB town to be EV-ready by 2025. This means LTA will deploy charging points in all HDB car parks (around 2,000 car parks) by 2025, with a minimum of three chargers in each car park at the beginning.
The LTA will also be launching a large-scale tender for HDB car parks in the first half of 2022. This is another significant step towards achieving their target of 60,000 charging points by 2030.
It will progressively upgrade the required electrical infrastructure in all residential estates to ensure sufficient electrical capacity to support electric vehicle (EV) charging. This upgrade will be financed through the issuance of green bonds, and the costs will be recovered from EV charging operators and EV users over time.
The LTA will revise the Category A Maximum Power Output (MPO) threshold for electric cars from 97kW to 110kW to allow more mass-market electric cars to come under Category A.
The MPO threshold for Categories A and B was set at 97kW in 2013, given the predominantly internal combustion engine (ICE) car population. This threshold will continue to apply to non-electric cars and will take effect from the first certificate of entitlement bidding exercise in May 2022.
Harnessing solar power in public transport infrastructure
To reduce carbon emissions and lower energy costs, LTA will install solar panels on the roofs of new or recentlyupgraded land transport infrastructure such as rail and bus depots, offices and facility buildings. This will support LTA’s existing plans to achieve the solar energy deployment targets of 16 megawatt-peak (MWp) by 2025 and 25 MWp by 2030.
In addition, LTA will call an open tender in March this year to deploy solar panels on other land transport infrastructure, including the upcoming Integrated Train Testing Centre, pedestrian overhead bridges and covered linkways.
