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Thailand: Collaboration to promote implementation of climate action in Thailand

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In brief

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.

In more detail 

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.

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Peerapan is a Corporate and M&A partner and heads the Sustainability Group and Healthcare & Life Sciences Industry Group in Bangkok. She also co-heads the Investigations, Compliance & Ethics Practice Group in Bangkok and is currently a member of the Firm's Global Executive Committee. Peerapan has nearly 40 years of experience advising on transactional and regulatory matters in highly regulated industries. Peerapan is exceptionally fluent in regulatory matters relating to healthcare, consumer protection and product liability.
Peerapan also has extensive experience advising on compliance issues, risks facing companies across various industry sectors, and regularly assists clients in practically managing and mitigating those risks. She has been consistently recognized as 'Leading Individual’ in Corporate M&A by the Asia Pacific Legal 500 for eight consecutive years (2013-2020) and has been inducted into the Asia Pacific Legal 500 Hall of Fame in Corporate M&A in 2020-2023. More recently she has been shortlisted for Corporate and M&A Lawyer of the Year by the Legal 500 Southeast Asia Awards. Peerapan was also awarded ‘Client Choice winner’ for Healthcare & Life Sciences 2019 by Lexology.
In October 2022, Peerapan was elected to join the Global Executive Committee and serve as chair of the Asia Pacific region. In this role, Peerapan works alongside the Firm's leadership to drive forward the Firm’s business strategy and prioritized actions.

Author

Yuthana is a partner and co-head of the Investigations, Compliance & Ethics Practice Group at Baker McKenzie, Bangkok. He is an acknowledged leader in the field of government procurement and contracts, and public-private partnership (PPP) projects. One of his most notable areas of expertise is advising on court cases that challenge decisions made by government authorities, or address disputes arising from procurements, bid rigging, administrative orders and contracts, as well as arbitration proceedings. Prior to joining the Firm, he was a judge advocate, serving in the Royal Thai Navy for more than five years, becoming well versed in government procurement and contracts, and negotiation and investigation skills. His roles and responsibilities covered a wide range of issues dealing with administrative law, government contracts and civilian and military personnel law, acting as an inquiry official legally empowered to conduct investigations. His responsibilities also extended to the provision of legal advice in the area of procurements, terms of reference (TOR), and contracts in procuring armaments and naval ships, as well as the law on the use of navally supervised state-owned land, including drafting rules and regulations and negotiating international contracts for the Royal Thai Navy.

Author

Nam-Ake Lekfuangfu is a partner of the Employment & Compensation Practice Group in Bangkok. He is experienced not only in employment laws but also, corporate and commercial law, mergers and acquisitions, environment and trade regulations. Over the past year, Nam-Ake was lead lawyer for a wide range of employment matters involving high profile clients. With his extensive legal knowledge, combined with insights on industrial knowledge and practices and Supreme Court rulings, Nam-Ake assists clients on employment and immigration works, ranging from day-to-day advice to complex matters, such as advising on employment trends impacting employers globally, including global mobility, the use of modern workforce and gender pay gap.

Author

Dhirananta Rithmanee is an Environmental Specialist in Baker McKenzie Bangkok office.

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