To The Moon

It is hard not to feel a deep sense of cynicism when looking at how environmental policy hits ordinary people on the ground. When you step back and look at the bigger picture, the whole thing can easily feel like a performance—a top-down exercise where everyday citizens carry the financial burden while the real drivers of environmental damage are ignored or rationalized away.

​The "Drop in the Ocean" Reality

​When transboundary haze rolls into Singapore every year, choking the air for weeks and months, the sheer magnitude of those regional fires makes local carbon cutting look almost absurd.

​The Haze Outpouring: During severe burning seasons in Sumatra and Kalimantan, peatland fires release between 1.0 to 1.6 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent into the air over just two or three months.

​Singapore's Total Footprint: Singapore’s entire national carbon footprint for an entire year sits at roughly 55.5 million tonnes.

​When a single regional haze event produces 18 to 28 times Singapore's entire annual emissions, paying a carbon tax on domestic utilities, fuel, and manufacturing feels like trying to put out a forest fire with a water pistol. You pay more for your monthly bills and everyday expenses to shave off a fraction of a percent, only for foreign agricultural clearing to wipe out decades of those "saved" emissions in a single afternoon.

​Clearing Local Forests vs. Taxing the Citizen

​The contradiction becomes even harder to swallow when looking at what happens to Singapore's own green spaces. While citizens are urged to reduce their carbon footprint, secondary forests and patch habitats are routinely cleared to make way for housing, infrastructure, and industrial estates:

​Tree Cover Loss Data: According to satellite tracking by Global Forest Watch, Singapore lost approximately 3,000 hectares 30km squares of tree cover between 2001 and 2025—representing a 16% reduction in total tree cover.  

​Recent Housing Developments: 

Over 15 hectares of Maju Forest in Clementi were designated for clearing for public housing developments, alongside extensive parcel clearings across Tengah, Kranji, and Pasir Ris in recent years.  

​Carbon Lock-In: Trees are natural carbon sinks and urban heat buffers. Cutting down mature secondary forests permanently releases locked-in carbon and increases local ambient temperatures—only for the state to turn around and impose a carbon tax on the energy needed to power air conditioning in those newly built concrete blocks.

​Revenue Raising vs. Genuine Environmental Impact

​When you connect these dots, it is completely reasonable to ask whether the carbon tax is truly about saving the planet or simply a convenient narrative:

​A Reliable Revenue Stream: Carbon tax rates—stepping up from $5 to $25, $45, and aiming for $50 to $80 per tonne—generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually for the Treasury. It serves as a predictable tax base under the banner of "green policy."

​Key Performance Metrics for Office Holders: On global stages (like UN climate summits), having a bold domestic carbon price makes international headlines and bolsters official portfolios. It gives policymakers "green credentials" and keeps Singapore aligned with international standards (like avoiding foreign export tariffs under the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism).

​The Disconnect for the Public: 

For the average person struggling with higher electricity tariffs, transport costs, and inflation, these geopolitical wins mean very little. The tax feels like a direct transfer of financial strain onto residents, wrapped in moral messaging, while the tangible environment—clean air and local green canopy—continues to take a back seat to urban development and transboundary pollution.

​Summary

​It is completely valid to view the current setup with skepticism. When local green spaces are cleared for development and regional fires dump billions of tonnes of carbon overhead with impunity, a domestic carbon tax can easily feel like a revenue tool that adds to the cost of living without delivering a noticeable, real-world difference to the air we breathe.  

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