Low Carbon News in Thailand in November 2013
Koh Mak Islands to be a Low Carbon Destination
(3 November 2013)
Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Public Organization) (DASTA) has promoted Koh Mak to be the role model for environmental-friendly tourist destination in Thailand. It initiated a project called “Koh Mak, a Low Carbon Destination” that looks for cooperation from entrepreneurs, communities and local administrations to reduce carbon emission. Four activities encouraged under the project include 1. Energy saving by using solar cell, 2. Water saving, 3. Waste sorting, and 4. Encouraging sustainable community life. The project has increasingly received positive response from both local and tourists. Eighteen hotels and resorts have joined the project and consequently are estimated to achieve 8,167.53 kg carbon reduction from using solar panels.
Source:
Prachachat Newspaper 31 October – 3 November 2013
Energy-saving efforts pay off for firm and community
(3 November 2013)
Building on years of efforts by the company to reduce energy consumption, the workforce and people living in the area around Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF)’s Ban Phru aquacultural-feed production plant in Songkhla have joined forces to implement energy-saving projects – and a win-win relationship between both sides is being created in the process. This approach has resulted in a 30% reduction in energy usage at the Ban Phru plant. The plant’s overall energy cost fell by Bt12.4 million last year. To achieve its goal, the Ban Phru plant has drawn up what it calls the “2-high 1-low” strategy: higher efficiency with less waste, high environmental safety and a high-performance workforce; low losses by controlling consumption of energy. Meanwhile, the plant is concentrating on using other forms of renewable energy beyond oil-palm shells, with sawdust and wood shavings now also being utilized. Renewable materials now account for 50% of the plant’s energy sources and contribute significantly to its reduced CO2 emission. For the community engagement, the Ban Phru plant has created an “Energy Tour” programme to work with local communities through schools. One-hour talks with teachers and students focus on energy conservation both at school and at home. In addition, energy-saving equipment is installed in schools and communities to allow all stakeholders to directly learn more about the various ways to save energy. The company has also created many activities with a view to working more closely with the surrounding communities. Successful schemes include a lunch project, a fish-farming project and a vegetable-growing project.
Source:
Loei Car Free Day – Bike toward Low Carbon
(10 November 2013)
Loei Municipality organized “Loei Car Free Day – Bike toward low carbon” as an action plan for the municipality’s 2013 Natural Resources and Environments Conservation Project. The objectives was to raise public awareness in resources and environment conservation as well as the necessity of global warming abatement. The event, warmly joined by the Mayor, officers, Loei people both young and old, was then scheduled to be on the third Sunday of every month.
Source:
http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/News/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=TNSOC5611100010045
Equitable and Low-Carbon Society: Aspiration and Strategies for Southeast Asia
(18 November 2013)
Thai Climate Justice Working Group (TCJ), Philippines Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ) and Civil Society Forum for Climate Justice Indonesia (CSF-CJI) had organized a seminar called “Equitable and Low-Carbon Society: Aspiration and Strategies for Southeast Asia” on 18 November 2013, Sritrang Room, Trang Hotel, Bangkok. The seminar brings together climate justice movements in Southeast Asia and civil society in Mekong region and Northeast India to discuss how to pursue equitable and low-carbon development that will benefit the poor and marginalized population in developing countries, especially in the region while strengthening the message ‘system change not climate change’. The seminar comprised 2 sessions: (1) Identify climate justice issues and threats to equitable and low-carbon society in Southeast Asia; and (2) Analyze concrete pathways toward economic justice and low-carbon society in Southeast Asia.
Source:
http://www.thaiclimatejustice.org/activities/view/82
‘Low Carbon Municipality’ project organized networking meetings in 3 regions
(22, 28-29 November and 3-4 December 2013)
The “Low Carbon Municipality” project with the cooperation of the Regional Coordinating Center on Urban and Environmental Management in 3 regions (North-Eastern, Northern and Southern) organized a series of networking meetings: in Khon Kaen province on 22 November, Chiang Rai province on 28 – 29 November and Trang province on 3 – 4 December. The objectives are to update the progress and provide feedbacks on low carbon activities that are created and implemented by 170 participating municipalities around the country. Participants (municipalities) learned how to improve their low carbon activities and discussed on their problems, experiences and solutions. The project team instructed participants how to collect data and calculate carbon reduction from their activities.
Source:
http://lcm.in.th/content-284.html
TGO organized a consultation meeting on “Thailand Voluntary Emission Trading Scheme”
(26 November 2013)
Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (Public organization) (TGO) organized a consultation meeting on Thailand Voluntary Emission Trading Scheme (Thailand V-ETS) at Centara Grand, Central Plaza Ladprao, Bangkok. The objective of this conference is to disseminate its research results on Thailand V-ETS and to seek comments from participants. Invited participants included entrepreneurs in cement industry, petroleum industry, iron industry, refinery industry and power generation sector.
Source:
http://carbonmarket.tgo.or.th/2013/thai/index.php
B. Ongoing Low-Carbon Research Activities / Projects
Low Carbon Municipality: The promotion of low carbon city across municipalities in celebration of his Majesty the Kings’ 84th Birthday.
The National Municipal League of Thailand (NMT, http://www.nmt.or.th) has initiated this project in 2012. It received a 90% financial support from the European Union while the rest was on its own. The objective of project is to contribute to climate change mitigation by using Thai municipality power. Project activities are to follow the King’s Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy. The project runs from February 2012 – January 2015. Expected outcomes consist of
- At least 84 municipalities are capable and participate in low carbon city development. At least one low carbon activity proposed (per one municipality) is successful. Low carbon city activities should be addressed in cities’ 3-year development plan or their annual plan.
- At least 84,000 kg CO2 is reduced by the end of the project (2015)
- There will be 84 role models of low carbon municipalities and at least 10 short films produced from these role models present as gifts to the King.
Source:
C. Publications & Online Resources
- Presentation files from the seminar on “Equitable and Low-Carbon Society: Aspiration and Strategies for Southeast Asia” can be downloaded from http://www.thaiclimatejustice.org/activities/view/82
- Low Carbon Municipality Project: http://lcm.in.th/home.php
- MEAs Think Tank : http://www.measwatch.org/
- Thailand Climate Change Network : http://www.tccnclimate.com/
- Panida Thepkhun, Bundit Limmeechokchai, Shinichiro Fujimori, Toshihiko Masui, Ram M. Shrestha. Thailand’s Low-Carbon Scenario 2050: The AIM/CGE analyses of CO2 mitigation measures. Energy Policy, Volume 62, November 2013, Pages 561-572.