While China, India, and the U.S. chase Africa’s critical minerals, Singapore has set its sights on something different — carbon offsets.
These offsets, each equal to one ton of carbon dioxide reduced or removed, come from projects like reforestation, clean energy, or efficient cookstoves. They allow buyers to balance emissions they cannot cut, supporting climate and net-zero goals.
For Singapore, Africa offers both a vital source of these credits and an opportunity to deepen trade ties while advancing its ambitious emissions targets.
At the same time, Singapore is working to establish itself as Asia’s hub for carbon trading, providing regional companies with a platform to purchase offsets and meet their own climate commitments, Bloomberg reported.
Singapore is pursuing agreements that allow its companies to co-develop carbon credit projects in Africa and beyond. Singapore could then purchase those credits to reduce its own emissions or sell them on domestic exchanges to companies looking to offset their carbon footprint.
Ranked as the world’s 57th-biggest emitter by Global Carbon Atlas, Singapore released about 49 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2023. With limited land to develop large-scale offset projects at home, the city-state has pledged to cut emissions to between 45–50 million tons by 2035.
Early deals in Rwanda, Ghana
This makes Africa a natural partner. Forestry initiatives that absorb carbon and cookstove programs that reduce reliance on firewood and charcoal are among the continent’s most viable offset projects.
So far, Singapore has signed memorandums of understanding or implementation agreements with 24 countries under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which enables nations to trade emissions offsets. Six of those deals are in Africa, with Rwanda and Ghana the most advanced.
By contrast, Rwanda produced just 1.5 million tons of emissions in 2023, tiny compared to Singapore, but its role in generating high-quality offsets could be vital for helping the city-state, and the wider Asian region, hit climate goals.
