The Infrastructure Behind the Mandate
Mandates make headlines. Measurement infrastructure determines whether those mandates produce comparable, decision-useful data. In January 2026, the Singapore Emission Factors Registry added 94 new emission factors, bringing its total to 319 and extending coverage to four of the fifteen Scope 3 categories. The timing was deliberate: STI companies begin mandatory Scope 3 reporting in FY2026, and they need a common reference point for converting spend and activity data into emissions estimates. Without locally derived factors, companies default to global averages that may misstate Singapore-specific supply-chain emissions, particularly in services where local operating conditions drive material differences.
Services Move Into the Carbon Accounting Frame
The most consequential additions are three new factors for cleaning, security, and professional services. These categories rarely dominate a company’s direct emissions, but they appear across almost every corporate supply chain and sit squarely inside Scope 3 Category 1 (purchased goods and services). The Singapore Business Federation prioritised these sectors after consultations identified them as common inputs across most businesses. The factors were developed using A*STAR’s Lifecycle Environmental Assessment Framework, aligned with ISO 14067 and the Partnership for Carbon Transparency methodology. The analysis also surfaced decarbonisation levers: cleaning emissions are driven largely by materials and equipment, security emissions by transport, and professional services emissions by business transport and IT equipment. Measurement and abatement become linked, which is precisely what a credible disclosure regime should achieve.
ICT, Industry Processes, and the Data-Centre Problem
The registry also added five ICT emission factors and 86 factors covering industrial processes and product use, refrigerants, purchased energy, and building materials. The ICT addition carries particular weight. Information and communications technology consumes about 7 per cent of Singapore’s total electricity use, a share projected to rise to 12 per cent by 2030 as AI demand expands data-centre load. For companies purchasing cloud services, the new calculator comparing cloud versus on-premise emissions introduces a practical decision tool that did not previously exist in the local market. Scope 3 disclosure becomes more than reporting when the underlying factors support procurement choices.
What Four Out of Fifteen Categories Means
The registry’s limitation is equally important to state clearly: full coverage exists for Scope 1 and Scope 2, but only four of fifteen Scope 3 categories have complete factor sets. The remaining categories — including upstream transportation, waste generated in operations, and end-of-life treatment of sold products — require companies to draw on international databases, industry averages, or primary supplier data. This is not a failure of the registry; it is a realistic reflection of where local data maturity stands. The practical implication is that STI companies must build hybrid measurement systems: use SEFR factors where available, document assumptions where they are not, and prioritise supplier engagement for categories with the largest estimated emissions and the weakest factor coverage.
The Credibility Test Ahead
A disclosure regime is only as strong as the numbers behind it. The SEFR expansion gives Singapore’s Scope 3 mandate a measurement backbone that many jurisdictions lack. But the gaps in category coverage mean the first round of FY2026 reports will contain a mixture of measured data and estimated ranges. Investors and assurance providers will need to distinguish between the two. The companies that treat the registry as a floor rather than a ceiling — supplementing local factors with supplier-specific data — will produce the disclosures that survive scrutiny.
