On 28 March 2023, the Royal Thai Embassy in Brussels hosted a hybrid meeting on Carbon pricing and CBAM. We were honoured with the participation of Professor Jos Delbeke, the former Director-General for Climate Action of the European Commission and the “Architect” of the EU Emissions Trading System, together with Mr. Peter Vis, former senior official of DG CLIMA, Mr. Rainer Emschermann, international relations officer of DG CLIMA, and Mr. Nicolas Katsilis, policy officer in charge of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mecha-nism (CBAM) of DG TAXUD.
Over 50 representatives of Thai government agencies and the Federation of Thai Industries joined the meeting via videoconference. H.E Mr. Sek Wannamethee, Ambassador of Thailand and Head of Mission of Thailand to the EU delivered his opening remarks by highlighting the dynamism of Thai-EU relationship, particularly with the signing of the Partnership and Coop-eration Agreement and the relaunch of FTA negotiations. The EU experts shared their insights on the lessons learnt from the EU ETS, and the latest developments of the EU CBAM. The Thai experts presented several updates on Thailand’s climate action including the development of Thailand Voluntary Emission Reduction Program (T-VER) and carbon credits in accordance with ISO 14064-1, ISO 14064-3 and ISO 14065, the consideration of establishing a carbon tax, and the drafting of Thailand’s first Climate Change Act.
Both sides stressed the need for continued dialogue in order to provide clarity on the implementation of CBAM to Thai agencies and businesses concerned. Further study on the compatibility between the EU’s CBAM and the ISO standards would be beneficial to facilitate compliance by businesses, avoid that CBAM becomes a de-facto trade barrier, and effectively contribute to carbon emissions reduction worldwide.
