Which grid factor should I use for my FY2025 report?

Use the most recent published factor — 0.4020 kgCO2e/kWh, from the 2024 data year — unless EMA has released a newer Singapore Energy Statistics edition by the time you prepare the report. Whichever you use, state the factor value, its data year and its source in your methodology notes, and apply the same convention every year.

Is the factor different depending on my electricity retailer?

Not under the location-based method: every kWh drawn from the national grid uses the same EMA grid average, regardless of retailer or tariff plan. Under the market-based method, renewable energy certificates or a supplier-specific rate can change your number — but you need contractual evidence to claim that.

Why is Singapore's grid factor lower than most of its neighbours?

Roughly 95% of Singapore's electricity is generated from natural gas in relatively efficient plants. Gas emits less CO2 per kWh than coal, which still features heavily in several regional grids, so Singapore's average sits below countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines — though well above low-carbon grids like the UK's.

Does one factor cover my whole electricity bill?

Yes, for grid electricity consumed in Singapore: multiply total kWh by the factor. If you occupy a tenanted space where the landlord bills you, use the kWh shown on your tenant statement or sub-meter and keep that document as evidence.

Where is the official number published?

In the Energy Market Authority's annual Singapore Energy Statistics, released under the Singapore Open Data Licence. The 2023 data-year factor (0.4085) appears in SES 2024, and the 2024 data-year factor (0.4020) in SES 2025.

Guide

The Singapore grid emission factor, explained

Where 0.4085 and 0.4020 kgCO2e/kWh come from, which data year to use for which reporting period, location-based vs market-based, and why open licensing matters.

Last updated July 2026

The short version

This guide covers Singapore's grid factor. For the universal method, see how to calculate your organization's footprint.

Every kilowatt-hour your business draws from Singapore's grid carries an official emissions price tag: 0.4085 kgCO₂e/kWh for the 2023 data year, easing to 0.4020 kgCO₂e/kWh for 2024. Both numbers come from the Energy Market Authority (EMA), published in its annual Singapore Energy Statistics (SES) under the Singapore Open Data Licence, and they are the backbone of nearly every Scope 2 figure a Singapore company will file. Multiply your annual kWh by the right factor and you have a defensible, location-based Scope 2 number — the arithmetic our business electricity calculator does for you, with the source shown on every result.

Where the number comes from

EMA calculates the Grid Emission Factor as an Operating Margin (OM) average: the total emissions of all power plants serving the national grid across the year, divided by the electricity they delivered. It is a blended average of everything running — not the dirtiest marginal plant, not any single retailer's portfolio, but the grid as a whole.

That blend is unusually uniform. Roughly 95% of Singapore's generation comes from natural gas, so the factor is, in effect, the average performance of the gas fleet with a thin layer of everything else on top. That is also why Singapore's factor sits where it does internationally: below coal-heavy neighbours — Ember's 2023 data puts Malaysia at approximately 0.61, Indonesia around 0.68 and the Philippines around 0.62 kgCO₂e/kWh — and below the world average of roughly 0.48, but far above the UK's 0.207 (DEFRA 2025), where wind and nuclear carry much of the load.

Which factor for which reporting period

The rule is simple: match the factor's data year to your reporting period.

| Data year | Factor (kgCO₂e/kWh) | Published in | Use it for | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2023 | 0.4085 | SES 2024 | FY2023 reporting periods | | 2024 | 0.4020 | SES 2025 | FY2024 reporting periods |

Note the one-year lag: the factor for a given data year appears in the following year's SES edition. That lag creates the one genuinely awkward case — reporting a period whose factor is not yet published. If you are preparing an FY2025 report before the 2025 data-year factor exists, use the latest available factor (0.4020) and say so in your methodology notes. What matters for credibility is not clairvoyance but disclosure: state the factor value, its data year and its source, and apply the same convention every year.

Location-based vs market-based

The GHG Protocol's Scope 2 Guidance asks companies to look at electricity two ways:

Location-based uses the average factor of the grid you are physically connected to. In Singapore, that is the EMA number above — identical for every retailer and every tariff plan.
Market-based reflects what you have contractually purchased: renewable energy certificates (RECs), power purchase agreements, or a supplier-specific emission rate. Instruments like these can lower your market-based figure, but only with contractual evidence behind them.

For most Singapore SMEs buying standard electricity with no certificates, the two methods collapse into the same calculation: kWh × grid factor. If you do buy RECs, good practice is to report both numbers rather than quietly swapping in the lower one.

Why the factor drifts down slowly

From 0.4085 to 0.4020 is a small step, and small steps are what to expect. With around 95% of generation already on natural gas, there is no coal fleet left to retire for a dramatic drop; the factor moves as newer, more efficient gas plants displace older units and as cleaner sources add at the margins. The practical implication for a business: do not budget for the grid to green your Scope 2 for you. Meaningful reductions will come from consuming fewer kilowatt-hours, or from market-based instruments — not from waiting.

A worked example

A precision-engineering SME in Woodlands uses about 8,500 kWh a month.

Annual consumption: 8,500 × 12 = 102,000 kWh
FY2024 Scope 2, location-based: 102,000 × 0.4020 = 41,004 kgCO₂e, or about 41.0 tonnes
The same consumption under the FY2023 factor: 102,000 × 0.4085 = 41,667 kgCO₂e

The 663 kg gap between those two results comes purely from the factor update — nothing about the business changed. That is exactly why the data year belongs next to the number in any report: two companies with identical consumption can legitimately show different emissions if they used different factor vintages.

If your consumption lives in twelve monthly PDF bills rather than one tidy number, you can upload them and let the extraction do the reading: three documents a day anonymously, ten a day with an email address, no signup, and files are auto-deleted after 30 days.

What the grid factor doesn't cover

Honest limits, so you know what this number is and is not:

It is Scope 2 only. Fuel burned on your own premises or in your own vehicles is Scope 1, with entirely different factors — diesel at 2.686 kgCO₂e/litre and on-site natural gas at 0.18293 kgCO₂e/kWh under DEFRA's 2025 factors, for instance.
It is location-based. If you hold RECs or a green tariff, your market-based figure needs its own evidence trail; the grid average cannot express it.
It stops at the border. Electricity consumed by an overseas office needs that country's factor — approximately 0.55 for Thailand or 0.47 for Vietnam on Ember's 2023 data, 0.3712 for the US (EPA eGRID 2022), 0.207 for the UK (DEFRA 2025).
Frameworks sometimes ask for more. Upstream fuel-supply emissions and transmission losses are separate line items with separate factors; the OM grid average is the generation figure, not those add-ons.
A calculation is not assurance. Our results show their working — factor, source, licence — so a reviewer can check them, but they remain estimates prepared from published data, and responsibility for the report stays with the company.

Why this matters for SGX reporting

From FY2025, all SGX-listed issuers must report Scope 1 and 2 emissions in line with IFRS S2 — and for most of them, Scope 2 is precisely this calculation: metered kWh times the EMA factor. STI constituents add Scope 3 from FY2026, which is the mechanism that pulls unlisted SMEs in: your electricity emissions, computed with this same factor, become a line in your customer's purchased-goods category. Boards carry responsibility for the resulting report under SGX listing rules 711A and 711B — one more reason to keep the factor vintage and source attached to every number. The full timetable, including the deferred track for large non-listed companies, is in our SGX deadlines guide.

If cost is the blocker: the EnterpriseSG Sustainability Reporting Grant covers 30% of qualifying costs, capped at S$150,000, for listed companies and those with at least S$100M revenue — and a separate SME sustainability-reporting programme covers 50% of costs through October 2027.

Why open licensing matters

None of the arithmetic above would be possible in a free tool without open data. EMA releases the grid factor under the Singapore Open Data Licence; DEFRA's conversion factors carry the Open Government Licence v3.0; EPA's eGRID data is public domain; Ember's country figures are CC-BY. Open licences are why a calculator can embed the real, official numbers — and show you the source and licence on every result — instead of hiding a proprietary factor set behind a paywall. When you evaluate any carbon tool, free or paid, ask the licensing question: if it cannot tell you where its factors come from and on what terms, you cannot defend the output to a customer or a regulator.

Sources

EMA — Singapore Energy Statistics (grid emission factor, Singapore Open Data Licence): ema.gov.sg
UK Government — greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors collection (OGL v3.0): gov.uk
GHG Protocol — Scope 2 Guidance (location- vs market-based methods): ghgprotocol.org
SGX RegCo — sustainability reporting requirements: sgx.com/regulation
US EPA — eGRID: epa.gov/egrid
Ember — Yearly Electricity Data (CC-BY): ember-energy.org

Frequently asked questions

Which grid factor should I use for my FY2025 report?: Use the most recent published factor — 0.4020 kgCO2e/kWh, from the 2024 data year — unless EMA has released a newer Singapore Energy Statistics edition by the time you prepare the report. Whichever you use, state the factor value, its data year and its source in your methodology notes, and apply the same convention every year.
Is the factor different depending on my electricity retailer?: Not under the location-based method: every kWh drawn from the national grid uses the same EMA grid average, regardless of retailer or tariff plan. Under the market-based method, renewable energy certificates or a supplier-specific rate can change your number — but you need contractual evidence to claim that.
Why is Singapore's grid factor lower than most of its neighbours?: Roughly 95% of Singapore's electricity is generated from natural gas in relatively efficient plants. Gas emits less CO2 per kWh than coal, which still features heavily in several regional grids, so Singapore's average sits below countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines — though well above low-carbon grids like the UK's.
Does one factor cover my whole electricity bill?: Yes, for grid electricity consumed in Singapore: multiply total kWh by the factor. If you occupy a tenanted space where the landlord bills you, use the kWh shown on your tenant statement or sub-meter and keep that document as evidence.
Where is the official number published?: In the Energy Market Authority's annual Singapore Energy Statistics, released under the Singapore Open Data Licence. The 2023 data-year factor (0.4085) appears in SES 2024, and the 2024 data-year factor (0.4020) in SES 2025.