Singapore may start carbon trading on new exchange

The Financial Technologies Group plans to set up the Singapore Mercantile Exchange by the end of the year, an electronic platform for derivative contracts, including those for commodities, currencies and carbon credits, S. Iswaran, senior minister of state for trade and industry, said in Singapore today.

Singapore plans to become a carbon-trading center by giving incentives to developers of carbon projects. The government of the city-state, which is a hub for banks and investors, is offering tax breaks and setting up a clean-energy industrial park to boost the carbon-trading business, Iswaran said.

“The Monetary Authority of Singapore has enhanced its incentive schemes, previously limited to tangible commodities such as oil, metals and agri-commodities, to include emission derivatives,” Iswaran said in a speech at the Carbon Asia Forum.

The global carbon market grew by more than 80 percent to $126 billion in 2008 from a year earlier, Anthony Jude, director of the energy and water division at the Manila-based Asian Development Bank, said at the event. Developing countries in Asia are the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas releases and will account for 43 percent of global carbon emissions from energy consumption, he said.

Tricorona AB, the second-largest developer of carbon credits, moved its headquarters to Singapore from Stockholm this month to expand in Asia and gain from lower tax rates, Moe Moe Oo, managing director of the company's trading unit, said in May.

Caspervandertak Consulting, a developer of carbon credits, and the Carbon Neutral Co. of the U.K. have set up offices in Singapore to develop projects in the region, Iswaran said.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email