Thailand is now making preparations on raising its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 40%, instead of 20-25%, by 2065. The revision to the country’s medium-term emissions reduction target comes in response to pledges made at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) and the realization that global temperatures are trending toward a 2.3 degrees Celsius increase.
The “COP26 Debrief: World Future and Thai Future” event was held in Bangkok today (16 Dec) in order for relevant parties to distill the outcomes of COP26 and project their operations toward the same direction.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister WarawutSilpa-archa said at the event that numerous countries have concertedly declared their greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets this year in order to propel the world toward the goal of carbon neutrality. The nations are also setting their sights on reaching net-zero emission of greenhouse gases after 2050, in keeping with the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) announced as part of the Paris Agreement. The minister explained that NDCs are aimed at enabling countries to achieve a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and removal, and ultimately maintaining the average global temperature rise to between 1.5-2 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial level.
According to Mr. Warawut, Thailand is currently implementing climate actions in accordance with its Paris Agreement NDCs, which means emissions need to be cut by 20-25% by 2030 or within 9 years. For the medium term, or from 2050 to 2065, the reduction goal is being raised to 40% and this will necessitate a readjustment of energy usage plans in Thailand by the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives as well as other agencies. Mr. Warawut said the global temperature rise is now predicted to reach 2.3 degrees Celsius.
The environment minister explained that for the long term, Thailand will act in keeping with declarations made by the prime minister at the COP26 summit. The country will work to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2065. Thailand will be one of three ASEAN countries to undertake a study of GHG emissions by various sectors and use the findings to establish compile a database that can be drawn on when the country establishes its next set of NDCs. (NNT)
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