Event Summary

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Event Summary : Green Creative Economy for Thailand. The session on Green Creative Economy for Thailand on April 21st, 2009 is a joint initiative of Change Fusion Institute and Banyan Tree Hotel. 8 notable guest speakers from the government, private sector and a network of green solution providers were invited to share their knowledge and experience on environmental sustainability projects in hoping that it will increase cooperation among participants and make a great impact on climate change. The first two speakers were representatives of public sector. The others speakers are from solution network including the UN, World Bank, Clinton Climate Initiative, Kokoboard Company, Scrap Lab, Volunteer Spirit, Supreme Renewable Energy, and Change Fusion Institute. Former Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayadhin who is now an advisor to Prime Minister Apisit Vejjajiva delivered a speech about key initiatives from the governmentʼs point of view in order to promote awareness of climate change impact in Thailand as well as in our neighboring countries. During his time as Bangkok Governor, Apirak and his team at the Bangkok Administrative Office have been working with many parties including the government and its national communities in order to handle climate change problems more productively. To do so, cooperation among three sectors namely public, private and social enterprises, is necessary. He has shared his perspective on the global trend and the impact of climate change and global warming. Starting with global trend, he mentioned that the economy today has been changed from export-driven economy or industrialization, which caused carbon emission resulting in climate change, to a more creative economy that drives in innovation and imagination. For instant, C40 climate summit is the seminar for the 40 big cities that agree to work together to find the solutions for environmental problems without waiting for governmental supports. Representing public sector, Apirak stated that Thai government works with the Office of Knowledge Management and Development (OKMD) to promote creative economy scheme. In addition, the government is willing to support and promote the linkage among these sectors to prepare Thailand for inevitable growing environmental problems. He emphasized that it is our duty to take responsibility of this very global issue in order to make sure that the next generation of the coming 10 - 30 years will have a habitable world to live on.

Regarding the use of renewable energy in Thailand, Apirak said that renewable energy usage such as wind power and solar energy is not popular in Thailand when compared to China and other countries in Europe. Last but not least, he said that Thailand should follow Obamaʼs stimulas package which focuses on promoting the opportunity for green businesses rather than financial institutions.

Mr. Pimuk Simaroj, who is an advisor to the Environmental and Natural Resources Minister, gave a short speech for Green Creative Economy for Thailand seminar in prospect of the government. He said that in the old day there was no cooperation among NGO, public and private sectors regarding environmental responsibility. However nowadays there is a stronger connection among these 3 groups of people who come together to solve environmental problems. Nowadays environmental issue is the major concern for Thailand. For the ministry itself, the strategy to raise public awareness of this issue is in form of voluntary promotion instead of laws and regulation enforcement. One of the government projects is the campaign of reducing the use of plastic bags for 45 days starting from the Earth day. Before ending the speech, he recommended that CSR should not only be used as an advertising scheme but should also be something that makes a great impact to the society. He added that the government is willing to support and facilitate burden that private sector is facing in promoting its CSR campaigns.

Mr. Simmathiri Appanah from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) department of the UN emphasized on FAOʼs main focus which is alternative energy for rural community. He gave the definition of “alternative energy”, especially in the rural community context, that alternative energy is something that you can not get out of the electric socket. It does not come from unsustainable nor unrenewable resources such as petroleum of which energy production process emits a lot of carbon into the atmosphere. Sources of energy that we should be looking for should be the energy that is free of charge, renewable, available within the community, and does not cause problem to the environment. He also mentioned about the challenges of wind energy production due to its high investment cost and unconstancy.There is some simple mechanism, which is more suitable and lower cost than the complex technology; hence, this should be the solution for alternative energy.

Ms. Pongthip Puwajaroen, a representative from the World bank, has given a speech hightlighted on carbon finance, the role of the World Bank in promoting

carbon finance and plan for the future. In 1999, The World Bank has started prototype of carbon fund, which were implemented in the waste mangement project in Brazil. Right now, the World Bank is managing about 10 funds worth a total of 2 billion dollars. The role of World Bank is to help funded participants develop their carbon finance projects; project that can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) under Kyoto Protocol and to help develop new methodology including complex calculation and benchmark. Another important role of the World Bank is to prepare necessary documents and to make sure that it is align with the World Bankʼs safe guard policies. She explained the basic terminology of carbon finance is what you can earn from what you have reduced. In other words, if you are able to reduce your GHG emission in some ways, you will be able to receive carbon credits. Until now, the World Bank has developed more than 300 carboncredits projects around the world. And it is an honor for Thailad as 4 of the projects have been developed in here. One of the projects is called “Community Develpment Carbon Fund”. This means that World Bank will contribute an extra one dollar for community development in each GHG emission unit purchased. In the future, the World Bank aims for reducing GHG emission in the suburb using area-based catagorization such as GHG emission of residence, waste-handling process, transportation and etc. Following the Kyoto Protocol, three things have been prepared, starting with carbon partnership facility, Clean Techonology Fund and carbon finance unit focused in urban areas.

Nathaniel Manning from Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), one of the initiatives under Clinton Foundation, has shared his knowledge about CCI and its projects. CCI was founded two and a half years ago with the mission to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and to fight against climate change in practical, measureble, and significant ways. CCI works with 40 largest cities in the world that have commited to help lower GHG emission. CCIʼs roles includes assiting partners, giving consultancy, outsourcing expertise and financing projects focusing on waste mangement, clean energy, transportion, and plant construction. Right now the organization empahsizes on hugh climate change impact which was caused by GHG emission. Hence, CCI innovates energy perfomance contract which helps existing plants to reduce GHG emission and to use energy efficiently. One of the projects that makes Bangkok become a very successful city to fight aginst climate change is “Energy Conservation Fund”. The fund gives loans to energy conservation projects at a very competitive interest rate. CCI has worked with many institutions in Thailand such as Central departmentstore and International School of Bangkok. In the midst of energy crisis, awareness and pressure on corporation regarding socially responsibility continue to increase tremendously in Thailand. So, this is an opportunity to comply with regulations to bring in new technology to save the environment while raising revenue and profit simultaneously.

Ms. Orapin Sinamovech from Kokoboard company described that Kokoboard is the company that makes wood from argricultural leftover. It was inspired from the desire to help farmer increase income. Signature of its products is the variety of pattern and color due to nature of different ingredients from agricultural wastes. Production process is environmental friendly, that is glue used to attatch each layers of wooden boards together do not contain formaldehyde, which is the cause of cancer and allergies and destroy central nervous system. However, non-formaldehyde glue costs more than the one that normally used in the industry, so that price of Kokoboard products is higher than its competitors. Moreover, its products are highly resistent to humidity compared to normal wooden board. Kokoboard is the example of social enterprise that is responsible for social and environment in reducing pollution; at the same time, making sustainable income to the company itself and to people in the community.

Mr.Teerawit Pimmanee, who is an architect student at Kasetsart University, gave an information about Scrap Lab project. Scrap Lab is a project under faculty of Architecture of Kasetsart University. The focus of Scrap Lab is to reuse waste and left over from production and construction sites to produce valuable products. Its products are flourished with design and innovation making it unique among its competitors. In constructing a building, left over and waste such as wood, ceramic, steel, plastic, metal, paper and etc are accounted for more than 40% of the total materials. So Scrap Lab gathers these wastes, categorize them before sending the materials and designs to factory for manufacturing process. However, Scrap Lab always stand firm on its mission of using less energy, producing less pollution and making environmental friendly products. Its products must be something that is practical and value-added while supporting sustainable economy and giving job opportunity for people simultaneously.

Volunteer Spiritʼs representative Mr. Win Mektripop stated that Volunteer Spirit is a network that promotes voluntarily activities in all sectors of the society. To increase individualʼs awareness of social and environmental problems, the organization emphasizes that volunteering mind need to be created and it is the responsibility of citizens and therefore it should start from an individual level not from an institutional level. Those contributions made by volunteers reflect positive social actions for the betterment of the community and the country. Nowadays, there is an increasing concern of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Some might think that CSR is to build or improve the companyʼs image. However, volunteer spirit representative would like to encourage us to see CSR as a good starting point for a person to be concerned about social problems.

Mr. Yutthana Saithai from Supreme Renewable Energy company shared his knowledge and experience on Biomass power plant. He stated that Supreme Renewable Energy company is the company that builds the first prototype of biomass power plant or community power plant in Chiangrai province of Thailand. The community power plant differs from a large power plant because it is as small as 1 MV. With simpler technology, it is easier to maintain, and requires lower investment costs. Moreover, it does not cause pollution and the biomass supply is available in the community. Therefore we can eliminate problems of power supply shortage and pollution problems caused by energy production process. At the same time, the community power plant can generate sufficient electricity for the community. Waste and leftover from the production can be recycled. For example, they can be used to produce charcoal and “wood vinegar”, which is fertilizer or pesticide for crops. The community power plant not only brings green electricity to people, but also brings in economic benefits by increasing job opportunity and income from selling agricultural waste to the power plant. In the near future, the company will further develop community power plant in rural areas in Thailand.

Change Fusion Instituteʼs representative Wannasigh Prasertkul shared his experience on biogas project. Biogas can be used as substitute of fuel to generate electricity, heat or run motor vehicles. Biogas is produced by fermentation of biodegradable materials such as municipal waste, green waste and energy crops. There are many available system and size of biogas plants. Some types are small, low-cost, and community-oriented, while some are huge and complex. Right now, Change Fusion incorporates with Central department store to build biogas plants in schools in Thailand. Besides direct benefits of the biogas, this project will provide researching opportunity to school students. Another project of Change Fusion in Buriram province also applies biogas plant initiative for its local community. The energy produced at each plant site is sufficient for household electricity consumption of up to 30 families. This is beneficial for people in the community in reducing cost of waste management and electricity bills. Next target is to build biogas plant in high-rise building in urban areas and incorporate with municipality for acquiring municipal waste; thus, it will help reduce environmental problems and waste management cost for the city.