MAS: No 'Good-as-New' Notes for LNY to Reduce Carbon Emissions

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will stop issuing "good-as-new" S$2 notes starting this coming Lunar New Year (LNY) in January 2023 to reduce carbon emissions from new notes.

In a press release on Dec. 6, the MAS, along with the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), encouraged the Singaporean public to go green this LNY and use "fit-for-giving" currency notes or electronic hong baos instead of new ones. Fit notes are used notes that are still clean, of appropriate quality for recirculation, and similar to notes that one may get from automated teller machines (ATMs).

While the MAS issues around 100 million pieces of new notes every year for LNY, it acknowledged that a volume of the new notes, once returned after being gifted, "exceeds replacement needs" and ends up being destroyed.

The MAS believes this practice of issuing new notes and destroying them is not in accordance with the city-state’s sustainability goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

"New notes issued just to meet the demand for festive gifting generate unnecessary carbon emissions and is a waste of resources," the MAS was quoted as saying. "The carbon emissions from the issuance of excess new notes annually are comparable to powering 430 four-room HDB flats. It would require 10,000 new trees to be planted to offset the emissions."

It added that banks in Singapore have improved their e-hong baos over the years, making them an alternative option for physical hong baos.