Credits and projects · Singapore

Singapore lets unused 2025 carbon-credit quota roll into 2026, scaled by 25/45

Taxable facilities in Singapore may carry unused 2025 international carbon credit quota into emissions year 2026.

The carried amount is multiplied by 25/45, the ratio of the 2025 and 2026 tax rates, so 4,000 unused credits become 2,222.

Quota already carried from 2024 into 2025 expires and cannot move forward again.

19 Aug 2026Credits and projectsSingaporePublished 12 Nov 2026
Singapore's central business district skyline seen from the Singapore River
Singapore's central business district skyline seen from the Singapore River. Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, source. Resized only; no other change.
Report

What happened

The National Environment Agency (NEA) sets out the roll-over rule on its carbon tax page, last updated on 19 August 2026. Facilities that do not use their full allowance of international carbon credits (ICCs) for emissions year 2025 can add the unused part to their 2026 allowance.

Because the tax rose from S$25 to S$45 per tonne at the start of 2026, NEA applies a credit conversion factor of 25/45. The formula is (A minus B) times 25/45, rounded down, where A is the 2025 limit and B is the number of ICCs actually surrendered for 2025.

NEA gives a worked example. A facility emitting 100,000 tonnes a year may use up to 5,000 ICCs. If it uses 1,000 for 2025, the remaining 4,000 convert to 2,222 for 2026, giving a 2026 ceiling of 7,222 credits (our calculation: 5,000 plus 2,222; NEA does not state the total). The page also states that quota carried from 2024 into 2025 lapses.

NEA links the measure to slow credit supply. It notes that 11 Implementation Agreements had been signed when the page was updated, that application calls were open in Bhutan, Ghana, Peru, Rwanda and Thailand, and that projects can take up to four years to produce credits.

Context

Background

The ICC framework started on 1 January 2024, when the tax rose to S$25. From that date taxable facilities could offset up to 5% of taxable emissions with eligible credits. Credits must come from reductions or removals from 2021 to 2030 inclusive, and only from countries that have an Implementation Agreement with Singapore.

An earlier roll-over let facilities move unused 2024 quota, up to 5% of 2024 taxable emissions, into 2025. That carried quota now expires. The tax began at S$5 per tonne in 2019; the 2026 rise is the first since offsets were allowed in 2024. Scaling by 25/45 keeps the tax value of a carried quota roughly the same: 4,000 credits at S$25 and 2,222 credits at S$45 each cover about S$100,000 of tax.

Supply under the agreements is still thin. Singapore's Carbon Markets Cooperation site lists 12 countries with which Singapore has substantively concluded negotiations or signed Implementation Agreements, nine of them in force (page updated 5 November 2026), while its project register showed no registered projects as of 2 November 2026.

Data

How it compares

Offset limits in Asian compliance schemes

Source: National Environment Agency (NEA); Singapore's Carbon Markets Cooperation (Government of Singapore); METI (Industrial Structure Council); METI; Korea Ministry of Government Legislation, National Law Information Center (law.go.kr); Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE). Checked 2026-11-12. Korea's exact limit for each period is set in its allocation plan.

Table of the same figures
SchemeOffset limitEligible units
Singapore carbon taxUp to 5% of taxable emissionsICCs from Implementation Agreement host countries
Japan GX-ETS10% of each year's emissionsJ-Credits and JCM credits
Korea K-ETSUp to 10% of a company's surrender obligation (legal ceiling)Domestic offset credits
China national ETSUp to 5% of allowances dueCCER
Ahead

What is next

No further dates are set in the official texts we checked.

Record

Sources

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