Singapore joins alliance to phase out coal energy

The country joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance, an international coalition of countries, cities, regions and businesses that promotes the transition from coal to clean energy.

Announcing Singapore’s membership during the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, sustainability and the environment minister Grace Fu said over a video message: “The burning of coal is putting billions of people at immediate risk.

“This is why Singapore has decided to join the Powering Past Coal Alliance.”

Singapore is the first country in Asia to join, said the alliance in a statement.

Twenty-eight new members – including Chile, HSBC Bank and Canadian utility TransAlta – joined the alliance on Thursday, bringing its total number of members to 165.

In the first half of this year, some 95% of Singapore’s electricity was generated with natural gas, the cleanest form of fossil fuel.

Coal made up 1.2%, diesel and fuel oil made up 0.6%, while waste-to-electricity, biomass and solar energy accounted for the remaining 3.2%, figures from the Energy Market Authority show.

Coal is the dirtiest form of fossil fuel.

By joining the alliance, Singapore has committed to continue phasing out the use of unabated coal in its electricity mix by 2050, and to restrict direct government finance of unabated coal power internationally, said the National Climate Change Secretariat and ministries of Sustainability and the Environment as well as Trade and Industry in a statement.

Unabated coal power generators refer to coal-burning power plants that do not use technology to capture the emitted carbon for storage or conversion to other substances.

Fu added in her video message that Singapore is fully committed to accelerating the transition to a low-carbon future.

“We will transform our industry, economy and society to be more energy- and carbon-efficient, and to adopt more low-carbon energy in support of the goals of the Paris Agreement,” she said. — The Straits Times/ANN