Thailand's first climate change bill is prompting businesses to step up efforts to fight global warming, with a recent project co-developed by Chevron Thailand and Prince of Songkla University aiming to cut carbon dioxide emissions for rubber plantations.
The new law, which is scheduled to be forwarded for the cabinet's approval by the third quarter of this year, imposes a tax on carbon dioxide released from business operations and requires entrepreneurs to collect data on greenhouse gas emissions and report it to the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning.
Chevron and Prince of Songkla University united to work with two rubber farmer cooperatives -- Ban Sai Khao and Yung Thong -- in Songkhla province to use their rubber plantations for a carbon dioxide reduction campaign, said Sumate Chaiprapat, director of the university's Energy Systems Research Institute.
The rubber plantations will be registered with the Thailand Voluntary Emission Reduction Programme, also known as T-VER.
Initiated in 2014 by the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization, T-VER is a public entity established to encourage both government agencies and companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions voluntarily.
Businesses that want to trade carbon credits need to have their transactions certified by T-VER.
Carbon credits refer to the amount of carbon dioxide emissions reduced by environmental projects, including clean energy development and environmentally friendly businesses. The credits can be sold to other companies to offset the carbon dioxide they release into the air.
Mr Sumate said Yung Thong has the potential to trade carbon credits. This cooperative can cut carbon dioxide emissions by 425 tonnes a year, he said.
Ban Sai Khao can turn waste water, which contains methane from a rubber smoking process, into biogas to replace firewood, normally used as fuel for the rubber smoking process, said Mr Sumate.
Methane is a greenhouse gas that can increase global temperatures.
Using biogas for heating needs can help cut greenhouse gas emissions and enable rubber farmers to save on firewood expenses.
Thailand announced in 2021 plans to be more aggressive in addressing climate change, striving to reach carbon neutrality, a balance between carbon dioxide emissions and absorption, by 2050, along with a net-zero target, a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and absorption, by 2065.
The climate change bill is another effort to cut carbon dioxide through legal measures.
To achieve the net-zero goal is an uphill task, requiring the business sector to make "considerable changes to every manufacturing process", which requires assistance from R&D projects, he said.
