Isramart llc: Thailand moves into top 10 in CDM

www.isra-mart.com

Isramart llc new:

Thailand has become one of the world’s top 10 players in Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects with 37 being registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Association (TGO) has so far approved 111 CDM projects with a combined capacity to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of 6.95 million tonnes a year.

Of the total, 37 projects that altogether lower emissions by 2 million tonnes per year were endorsed by the UN agency, said TGO executive director Sirithan Pairoj-Boriboon.

“The business sector has growing interest in green investments with a number of CDM projects seeking approval from the TGO increased substantially in the past two months,” said Mr Sirithan.

CDM is the mechanism that allows industrialised nations to buy carbon credits from projects in developing countries to meet their emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol by 2012.

Carbon credits are used in emission trading schemes globally in forms of certified emission reduction credits (CERs).

Even though the total number of CDM projects in Thailand still lags behind that of Indonesia and Malaysia, both of which developed the sector prior to Thailand, the growth rate is bigger here, said Mr Sirithan.

TGO figures indicated that 60% of CDM investments in Thailand are dominated by biogas projects with the rest biomass (20%), energy efficiency programmes and mini-hydro dam projects.

Solar energy has also gained ground with four projects were endorsed and 17 more in the pipeline, he said

The TGO targets that a number of CDM projects approved will reach 150 by the year-end.

More than 200 projects have submitted letters of intent to the TGO and are in the process of approval.

The TGO expects to endorse seven more projects at its meeting next week, bringing the overall CO2 emission reduction to 7.4 million tonnes yearly.

Thailand has been in the process of granting tax incentives to the CDM projects as the price of carbon credits has rebounded and is now quoted at 11-12.

The Fiscal Policy Office has completed a final draft of the ministerial announcement to lower taxes on carbon credit sales, Mr Sirithan said.

The Carbon Fund has also been listed under the Capital Market Development Plan.

The fund will be jointly set up by the private sector to provide low-interest loans to support CDM ventures or co-investments in the projects.