Singapore announced on Tuesday it will set 2050 as the year its greenhouse gas emissions reach net zero, and has also earmarked a stronger 2030 target. The public sector will commit to achieving net-zero emissions around 2045, while new developments within the Jurong Lake District will also reach net-zero emissions around 2045. The country’s greenhouse gas emissions will reach about 60 million tonnes in 2030 after peaking earlier, compared with the previously envisaged 65 million tonnes in 2030.

Achieving net zero by 2050 may be a stretch target, but it is a necessary one because climate change is happening at a faster pace: in 2021, global emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, reached another peak. Meeting the 2050 target would mean deploying new technology, scaling up low-carbon hydrogen, electricity imports, solar energy, carbon offsets and other steps. Low-carbon hydrogen could potentially supply up to half of Singapore’s power needs by 2050 and help decarbonise sectors that cannot be easily electrified, for instance, by using it as a feedstock in semiconductor plants and petrochemical processes.