Strong Competences for Emissions Trading in Thailand

Thailand is being particularly affected by the negative effects of climate change. Extreme weather phenomena such as droughts, heavy rainfall and extreme temperatures have greatly increased. Sea level rise and its consequences for the metropolis of Bangkok, agricultural areas, and for increased coastal erosion illustrate the importance of the topic for the country. They have raised awareness of the need for action, both to adapt to climate change and to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG). The Thai government attaches great importance to the issue of climate change adaptation and has set itself the goal of reducing the country’s GHG emissions by at least 20% by 2030 compared to a business-as-usual scenario. Market-based climate action instruments are particularly intended as a means to implement the reductions cost effectively.

Initial pilot projects with various market-based instruments have already begun. For example, the Voluntary Emissions Trading Scheme (Thailand V-ETS) was launched in 2013, and acts as a pilot project for a potential national emissions trading system (ETS). The V-ETS programme is currently limited to two sectors: energy generation and petrochemicals. In the coming years, however, further emissions-intensive sectors - cement, paper and pulp, as well as iron and steel - are to be added. The programme is voluntary and the focus so far has been on the measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of emissions at the company level. In the period from 2018 to 2022, companies are also to be given certificates and will be able to trade them.

To support the continued development of the V-ETS, adelphi, in collaboration with FutureCamp Climate, was commissioned by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) to develop and implement a four-day intensive training course on the foundations of an ETS. Participants in the Bangkok workshop were staff from the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation (TGO) – responsible for the V-ETS – as well as other representatives of Thai ministries and selected industry representatives. The focus of the workshop was on MRV, registry, allocation and trade aspects.

The workshop was part of the project "Capacity Building Emissions Trading to Support Bilateral Cooperation 2013-2017".