New Early Turnover Scheme From 24 April 2013 [News Releases]

Singapore, 24 April 2013 – As announced by the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and the Minister for Transport during the 2013 Committee of Supply debates, the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will implement a new Early Turnover Scheme to encourage the early replacement of old Category ‘C’ (Cat C) diesel vehicles with models that comply with at least Euro V diesel standards or their equivalent. The scheme will run from 24 April 2013 to 23 April 2015. This is one of NEA’s abatement measures to reduce ambient levels of particulate matter and achieve Singapore’s 2020 air quality targets.

2. Under the Scheme, owners can deregister their Cat C diesel vehicles registered before 1 January 2001, which are predominantly the Pre-Euro and Euro I models, and register a replacement Cat C vehicle by paying a discounted Prevailing Quota Premium (PQP) (i.e. without the need to bid for a Cat C Certificate of Entitlement (COE)). Please refer to Annex A for the eligibility criteria for the scheme. Read more

Singapore’s drive for cleaner air [News]

By Woo Sian Boon, Today, 24 Aug 2012.

To ensure cleaner air in Singapore, the Government is raising emission standards for new petrol vehicles and improving petrol quality while increasing the frequency of updates on the Republic’s air quality.

Starting today, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will be reporting the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) thrice daily at 8am, noon and 4pm, instead of once a day, to make air quality information more relevant.

The level of particulate matter (PM) 2.5 – a very fine pollutant which can cause respiratory problems – will also be reported alongside the PSI.

If the air quality deteriorates to the extent that it is likely to affect one’s health, advisories will be issued separately for the central, northern, southern, eastern and western sectors of Singapore. Previously, only one advisory was issued for the whole country. Read more

Singapore To Adopt Higher Air Quality Targets [Press Releases]

Singapore, 23 August 2012 – The National Environment Agency (NEA) will be implementing a suite of measures to achieve higher national air quality standards by 2020.

Following the acceptance of the recommendations by the Advisory Committee on Ambient Air Quality (see Annex I for details), the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) will be adopting the World Health Organisation (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines (AQG) for particulate matter 10 (PM10), Nitrogen Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide and Ozone, and the WHO AQG’s Interim Targets for PM2.5 and Sulphur Dioxide, as Singapore’s air quality targets for 2020. These targets will enable Singapore to achieve a high standard of public health and economic competitiveness. Read more

Are we sacrificing clean air for carbon cuts? [News]

By Nicholas Fang and Henrick Tsjeng, Today, 24 Feb 2012.

The Singapore Budget 2012 was recently announced and it was revealed that the Green Vehicle Rebate (GVR) Scheme will be replaced with a new Carbon Emissions-based Vehicle Scheme (CEVS).

The GVR offers a 40 per cent rebate for environmentally friendly vehicles. The CEVS is a rebate programme that will specifically reward carbon-efficient vehicles – those with low carbon emissions per kilometre travelled – with rebates, while penalising those with higher carbon emissions.

The Special Tax for diesel vehicles that comply with Euro V emissions standards will also be slashed from S$1.25 per cu cm to S$0.40 per cu cm with effect from January 2013, a 70 per cent reduction. This is to promote the use of new diesel technologies that are considered cleaner. Read more