Paraguay expects over US$1 billion in Singapore carbon credit investments
De Barros said President Santiago Peña received the delegation and expressed confidence that if ”all processes of interest with Singapore are completed
Paraguay’s government expects investments from Singapore in carbon credit projects to exceed $1 billion, Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Rolando De Barros said on Wednesday, as a delegation from the Asian nation visited Asunción led by Sustainability and Environment Minister Grace Fu Hai Yen, accompanied by 20 business executives.
De Barros said President Santiago Peña received the delegation and expressed confidence that if all processes of interest with Singapore are completed, more than $1 billion can be generated between both governments, without specifying a timeline for the investments, EFE reported.
The two countries signed a cooperation agreement in May 2025 under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, establishing a bilateral framework for carbon credit transfers. It was Singapore’s seventh such deal, following similar agreements with Papua New Guinea, Ghana, Bhutan, Peru, Chile and Rwanda.
In September 2025, Singapore announced the procurement of 2.175 million tonnes of nature-based carbon credits worth S$76 million (roughly $56 million) from projects in Ghana, Peru and Paraguay, for use between 2026 and 2030. The Paraguayan project included in that package is the Boomitra Grassland Restoration Project, which seeks to increase soil organic carbon through rotational grazing practices in the Chaco Pampas.
Paraguay has earned roughly $20 million over the past two years from carbon credit sales, according to De Barros. The president of the Paraguayan Chamber for Carbon Credit Development and Commerce, Kiantar Betancourt, projected in March that the country could earn close to $100 million this year from private projects in the Chaco, a vast semi-arid region of forests and dry savannas in western Paraguay, he told EFE.
Paraguay’s ambitions in this market extend well beyond the Singapore agreement. Presidential Chief of Staff Javier Giménez said in March that the country expects to secure up to $5 billion in the near future from carbon credit sales.
Latin America is currently the world’s second-largest provider of voluntary carbon credits. Singapore, for its part, has positioned itself as a regional carbon trading hub: in January 2026 it raised its carbon tax to S$45 per tonne of CO₂ equivalent, with a projected trajectory of S$50–80 by 2030, according to S&P Global.
The bilateral agreement includes a transparency mechanism: Paraguay must increase its reported emissions by the number of credits transferred to Singapore, preventing double counting. Singapore also commits to channeling the equivalent of 5% of proceeds from authorized credits toward climate adaptation measures in the host country.
