Thailand boosts efforts to meet Paris climate goals amid challenges

Thailand is intensifying its efforts to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions as the country’s current actions fall short of the targets set in the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Chalermchai Sri-on, the minister of Natural Resources and Environment, highlighted these concerns during his address at the COP29 climate summit held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Addressing the summit, which is set to conclude tomorrow but may extend due to ongoing debates over financial assistance for developing nations, Chalermchai stressed the need for heightened action.

The global stocktake of climate progress since the Paris Agreement revealed widespread efforts, yet highlighted the failure to meet the critical objective of limiting global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The stocktake also pointed out that many countries lag in building resilience and have struggled to mobilise and align the required financial flows. This assessment serves as a foundation for countries to revise and escalate their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) by 2025, a crucial step if the world is to achieve the 1.5C target.

Chalermchai outlined Thailand’s ambition to cut greenhouse gas emissions to below 270 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2035, compared to the 2019 levels.

“A comprehensive green investment plan will support the implementation of NDC 3.0. Additionally, we will boost the GHG sink in land use, land-use change, and forestry by 120 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2037.”

Highlighting Thailand’s vulnerability to climate change, Chalermchai noted the nation has faced extreme weather conditions, including record-breaking temperatures of 43 degrees Celsius, flash floods, and landslides, which have inflicted severe economic and environmental damage.

“This includes biodiversity loss such as seagrass, which would cause a decline in dugong populations of around 50% in less than six years.”

Despite contributing less than 1% of global greenhouse gases, Thailand is committed to intensifying its mitigation measures, said Chalermchai.

“Yet the government is determined to enhance its mitigation action, and uphold the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, to achieve our NDC 2030 goal by reducing GHG emissions by 222 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in five sectors.”

Bangkok Post reported that these targeted sectors include energy, transport, waste, industrial process and product use, and agriculture, underscoring Thailand’s multifaceted approach to tackling climate change.