New climate policy fails to sway critics

Participants take part in the Thailand Climate Action Conference, organised under the theme ‘Our Future: Our Responsibility, Our Opportunity’, at Paragon Hall in the Paragon shopping complex. Apichart Jinakul
Participants take part in the particular Thailand Climate Actions Conference, organised under the theme ‘Our Future: Our Responsibility, Our Opportunity’, at Paragon Hall in the Paragon shopping complex. Apichart Jinakul

The government is aiming major bureaucratic reforms with the introduction from the Climate Change Action and the founding of the Department of Climate Change, which will be the newest legal tool and central agency to oversee the country’s climate actions.

Speaking in the Thailand Climate Motion Conference recently, Ressortchef (umgangssprachlich) of Natural Resources  and Environment Varawut Silpa-archa presented the particular plans to  tackle climate change by focusing on lowering green house gas (GHG) emissions in four  target sectors and fostering climate-friendly investment within the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG)  economy model.

Still, environmentalists mentioned the steps had been just glossy promotions that favour big business players, whilst largely ignoring the  participation of civil society, local communities and smallholders.

Weather security

As human-induced global warming is definitely posing serious risks to all life in the world, the international community agreed upon a common goal to limit  global temperature rises to well below 1 ) 5º Celsius compared to pre-industrial level at  the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Meeting (Cop21) in Paris, france.

The particular member parties  from the Paris Agreement are usually obligated to cut emissions of GHG such as carbon dioxide  and methane, which is the root cause of global heating.

However , with the rapid escalation of the climate crisis in recent years, the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stressed that all nations need to accelerate their particular climate actions to achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2050 to keep up with the narrowing temperature stabilisation threshold at 1 . 5C.

Mr Varawut said Thailand is ready to  play its part in the global effort to mitigate environment change, as the federal government has set out the goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero emissions  by 2065.

Tara: Big business gets breaks

“The govt recognises the emergency of stabilising global warming at  1 ) 5C, as Asia has suffered greatly from extreme  weather plus disasters caused by weather change, ” he or she said.

“Therefore, climate change is another major issue that is incorporated in the 20-year  national strategy and national economic and social development program to  lead the nation toward climate-friendly growth, ” he stated.

Thailand also has long-term lower greenhouse gas emission development strategies (LTLEDS) to help lead the way toward carbon neutrality and net-zero focuses on, he said.

As dealing with climate change is a complex task which involves many stakeholders, he said close collaboration between agencies, the particular private sector, plus local  communities is vital.

“The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry will be designated the  focal point for climate mitigation collaboration, so the ministry will open the new  Department of Climate Change in order to specifically oversee work on climate  change throughout sectors, ” this individual said.

“We will also possess a Climate Change Take action. This law will give you both regulatory  actions, such as stricter emission standards, and motivation mechanisms, such as a co2 tax  and co2 credit, to help promote a climate-friendly investment decision and voluntary carbon  market, ” this individual said.

Reforestation

Apart from direct decarbonisation in energy and transport, industrial processes and  product use (IPPU), waste and the agriculture sector, Mr Varawut said investing in  natural carbon sinks by regrowing jungles is also important.

He declared that as we plant more trees, the co2 being absorbed simply by new green spaces  can be counted like a carbon credit, which can be traded in the carbon market or utilized as a carbon  counter to reduce our internet carbon emissions by deducting from the quantity of GHG that we  currently release.

“The carbon offset and co2 market mechanism are beneficial tools designed for pursuing carbon  neutrality, so the government can be encouraging the business industry and the people to reforest  and plant a lot more trees to be carbon credits for dealing with climate change, ” he said.

 

Kritsada: Policy contrary

Critics’ concerns

Climate active supporters and workers are unconvinced.   Thailand Country Director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Tara Buakamsri, said it is doubtful the government’s climate strategies will be a success, as many climate  mitigation frameworks heavily prefer the interests associated with big business within the industrial sector,   which are a major way to obtain GHG emissions, while the involvement of civil society and  youngsters in climate actions is largely ignored.

“The weather action conference obviously shows civil culture has little  area in the government’s climate actions, as their presence in the conference was  overshadowed by large industry and power companies trying to greenwash their  reputation via grand exhibitions of their vague climate-friendly improvements, ” Mr Tara  said.

He said the particular carbon credit and carbon offset system is another example of the particular tactics that polluting industries use to resist the steep decarbonisation and keep “business because usual” status, because their carbon credits allow them to keep releasing GHG and pollution in to the environment.

“How can all of us pass on a safe future to the next era when our climate actions  are only the greenwashing efforts from the fossil fuel sector to maintain their circumstances? ” he  inquired.

Kritsada Boonchai, coordinator of Thai Climate Justice for All, said Thailand’s climate actions are contradictory, as polluting industries are damaging  the environment.   The federal government not only ignores problems but partners with these big corporates to deal with climate  change.  

“Fossil-fuel-based capitalism is the major culprit behind global warming, but the government is trying to tackle climate change with fossil-fuel-based capitalism, inch Mr Kritsada mentioned.