Singapore’s minister of state for trade and industry Alvin Tan is leading a business delegation to Accra, Ghana, until July 18 to foster carbon credits collaboration between Ghanaian and Singaporean companies.

The move is Singapore’s inaugural business mission aimed at developing a pipeline of projects under the implementation agreement on carbon credits cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris agreement, which both countries signed in May 2024.

The delegation of 22 Singapore-based companies comprises project developers, traders, financiers and other ecosystem players from the carbon trading and services sector.

At the Singapore-Ghana carbon markets roundtable during the trip, companies will meet government agencies and Ghana-based businesses. Companies will be briefed on how to use the agreement and familiarize themselves with the business environment in Ghana, and business matching sessions will be held to foster partnerships that will support the development of Article 6 projects.

Through collaboration, Article 6-compliant carbon credit projects will channel financing towards carbon mitigation projects that would otherwise not be viable without carbon credit revenue. The projects will also support Ghana’s sustainable development goals.

Singapore and Ghana share mutual interests in the area of climate change and sustainability, and this shared interest and its resulting collaboration, the Singaporean ministry states, will advance both countries’ climate ambitions.

Offset taxable emissions

The Singaporean business delegation is also expected to meet with senior Ghanaian government officials and local project developers, as well as visit carbon credit project sites. It will be accompanied by officials from the city-state’s ministries of trade and industry, and sustainability and the environment, Enterprise Singapore and the National Environment Agency.

Any carbon credit projects authorized under the Singapore-Ghana agreement will seek to promote sustainable development and generate benefits for local communities, such as the creation of jobs, access to clean water, improved energy security and the reduction of environmental pollution. 

Under the agreement, project developers will be required to make a contribution equivalent to a 5% share of proceeds from authorized carbon credits towards climate adaptation in Ghana, which helps the country prepare for and adjust to the impacts of climate change.

The developers will also be required to cancel 2% of authorized carbon credits at first issuance to ensure additional contribution to the overall mitigation of global emissions.

Under Singapore’s international carbon credit framework, eligible credits generated under this agreement may be used by Singapore-based carbon tax-liable companies to offset up to 5% of their taxable emissions.