Singapore - Proposed New Legislation for Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Equipment that Use High Global Warming Potential (GWP) Refrigerants

​Singapore NEA (National Environment Agency) proposes to enact new legislation for refrigeration and air-conditioning (RAC) equipment that use high Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants, and are supplied or for sale in Singapore. The criterion and specifications (e.g. capacity and usage) of the goods to be regulated will be stipulated in the Subsidiary Legislations.

The regulatory requirements are:

- the applicable RAC equipment must be registered with NEA, and
- its refrigerant must meet the following GWP[1] levels: 

i) For water-cooled chillers, GWP of refrigerant must be less than or equal to 15.
ii) For air-conditioners, GWP of refrigerants must be less than or equal to 750.
iii) For refrigerators, GWP of refrigerants must be less than or equal to 15.

[1] The GWP values of the greenhouse gas refers to the 100-year warming potential of 1kg of GHG, blend or mixture which will be aligned with the Fifth Assessment Report of the United Nation’s (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In addition, the GWP value of HCFC-31, not found in the Fifth Assessment Report, will be aligned with the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion 2018. For refrigerant blends/mixtures, the GWP of refrigerant blends/mixtures will be calculated as a mass-weighted average of GWP of the individual components.

The GWP thresholds (GWP of 15 and 750 for specified equipment) were based on the following considerations in Singapore’s context:
 i) Availability of lower GWP alternatives
 ii) Better energy efficiency performance of lower GWP alternatives
 iii) Low costs of adoption, when energy cost savings are factored.

Full text of notified document available from:

Mr Ng Pei Chen
Principal Engineer, Labelling & Standards Department, Carbon Mitigation Division
40 Scotts Road, #19-00 Environment Building
Singapore 228231
Tel.: (65) 6731-9113 (DID)
Fax: (65) 6235-2611
Email: ng_pei_chen@nea.gov.sg

Ms Ng Jie Yu Jane
Executive Engineer, Labelling & Standards Department, Carbon Mitigation Division
40 Scotts Road, #19-00 Environment Building
Singapore 228231
Tel.: (65) 6731-9911 (DID)
Fax: (65) 6235-2611
Email: jane_ng@nea.gov.sg