Baker McKenzie Thailand signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TGO on 11 April 2022.
At the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow known as COP26, countries agreed to advance the implementation of the Paris Agreement and accelerate its action plans to cut global greenhouse gas emissions. Along the line of this endeavor, the Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha, announced Thailand’s enhanced ambition towards a low carbon society, aiming to reach carbon neutrality in 2050, and Net Zero GHG Emissions in or before 2065.
Efforts in this direction are underway at the policy level through the National Energy Plan, which includes various provisions that aim to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Some of these provisions include increasing the use of renewable energy or clean energy in power plants. The National Energy Plan also promotes the use of electric vehicles (EVs) ensuring the energy used in EVs are derived from clean energy sources. Furthermore, this plan lays the foundation for a climate change bill and promotes green jobs such as solar cell engineers.
The Thai government has introduced the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economy model as a strategy to drive economic and social development that will help achieve its Environmental, Social and Governance sustainability targets. The model aims to encourage sustainable development that benefits communities at every level in Thailand and uses natural assets more effectively.
Despite these efforts, there are currently no mandatory carbon targets, actions, or schemes imposed as of yet. Undertakings in this regard are on a voluntary basis. Central to this is T-VER (Thailand Voluntary Emission Reduction Program) which was introduced in 2013 by the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO) as a voluntary scheme to encourage the voluntary reduction of greenhouse gases in Thailand. TGO is the key agency tasked with driving greenhouse gas mitigation in Thailand towards a sustainable, low-carbon economy and society. Established in 2007, TGO is an autonomous public organization formed by royal decree and works in partnership with the public and private sectors, as well as international organizations to promote the implementation of climate action.
With the aim to collaborate on building an enabling legal environment to promote implementation of climate action in Thailand, Baker McKenzie Thailand signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TGO on 11 April 2022. Under this collaboration, Baker McKenzie will support TGO on the development of a legal framework and mechanisms, particularly in carbon trading to facilitate the implementation of TGO's mission in assisting organizations in the move towards carbon neutrality and achieving net zero emissions in line with the targets laid out by the Thai government.
“We are proud to be collaborating with TGO on this important mission. As an organization, we have ourselves taken steps to continually improve our environmental performance and sustainability is at the core of our Firm strategy. We firmly believe that organizations which desire to remain competitive will need to take action on sustainability. The changing environment in which businesses operate today demands attention to environmental, social and governance sustainability. Companies are looking towards long term value rather than short term profits.”