PaSTI - Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund side event - Ms Grace Fu

Speech by Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, at the Partnership to Strengthen Transparency for Co-Innovation (PaSTI) - Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) side event on 12 December 2023

Minister Shintaro Ito, Minister of the Environment of Japan,
ASEAN Colleagues,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1 Good morning, and welcome to the Singapore Pavilion. I am pleased to see our friends from Japan and ASEAN here with us at the Singapore Pavilion for COP28.

2 We are now at the midpoint between the adoption of the Paris Agreement and 2030, a target year for many countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Which is why the first Global Stocktake (GST) of the Paris Agreement at COP28 is so important.

3 Underpinning this global effort is the need to ensure that global greenhouse gas emissions are measured and reported in an accurate and timely manner, to enable countries to track the progress of implementing their NDCs.

4 A robust monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) regime is a prerequisite to the effective implementation of mitigation solutions to meet our climate goals. Coupled with an effective carbon tax, the cost of carbon emission can then be properly factored into our economic choices, whether at the individual, business, or national levels. Singapore’s own experience is that the MRV regime needs to be robust and yet not impose a disproportionate reporting burden on companies. Hence, when we introduced the carbon tax in 2019, we also grew the pool of third-party verifiers in Singapore, so that companies can engage verification services that are competitively priced.

5 MRV regimes also provide the confidence for countries and companies alike to develop low-carbon solutions and grow high-integrity carbon markets, by ensuring that the emissions data is transparent, accountable, and comparable. This establishes a common language, fosters fair competition, and builds trust to collaborate within carbon markets, in line with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

6 The ASEAN region continues to build up its MRV regimes and in this regard, the Partnership to Strengthen Transparency for Co-Innovation, or PaSTI, has served us well. Since its introduction in 2019, PaSTI has supported capability building for MRV regimes across ASEAN member states.

7 I am happy to share that we have concluded PaSTI’s first two phases: Under Phase 1 in 2020, we worked with our ASEAN Member States to develop a set of facility-level greenhouse gas Measurement and Reporting (M&R) Guidelines for the region. The document has helped to pave the way for the harmonisation of M&R systems in the region. Building on this, Phase 2 established the MRV Information Platform for ASEAN region, which shares up-to-date, country-specific information on greenhouse gas emissions M&R systems.

8 We are now looking at implementation under Phase 3. We will be facilitating the pilot implementation of the greenhouse gas emissions M&R guidelines across ASEAN Member States. PaSTI will promote and support each government’s efforts to adopt greenhouse gas M&R for its private sector, and through this, stimulate emission reductions efforts across ASEAN. The project will also offer technical seminars to the national focal points of the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change. These seminars will cover greenhouse gas M&R systems and regional case studies on transparency and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) finance for ASEAN Member States, to strengthen our respective institutional MRV capacities.

9 I thank the Ministry of the Environment Japan (MOEJ), the Overseas Environmental Cooperation Centre, and the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change for the close collaboration with Singapore and support throughout this journey. I look forward to our continued partnership to collectively advance regional climate action. Thank you.