On 12 March 2021, the EU SWITCH-Asia: Promoting Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP), in cooperation with the Pollution Control Department (PCD), the Office of National Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) and the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion (DEQP), organised the kick-off seminar for piloting the draft Green Integration Policy in Thailand at Rangsit City Municipality, Pathum Thani. Approximately 90 participants from Thai municipalities joined the seminar, both virtually and physically. Rangsit Municipality’s participation as one of the pilot agencies under the technical assistance to Thailand by the SWITCH-Asia SCP Facility will inspire more than 2,500 local government agencies in Thailand to implement green public procurement.

The seminars aimed to promote green and sustainable procurement in the pilot agencies (Stock Exchange of Thailand, Rangsit City Municipality, and Pollution Control Department), which is a part of the policy development process.

The welcome speech was given by Dr. Arab Hoballah, Team Leader of the EU SWITCH-Asia SCP Facility, who emphasized the importance of Green Public Procurement (GPP) in enabling green recovery with business partners and local government. Mr. Janejob Suksod, Director of the Pollution Analysis and Environment Center, Pollution Control Department, provided an opening speech highlighting the importance of cooperation by local government, which will greatly contribute to the National Green Procurement Policy.

The presentation on the Green Public Procurement Policy of Thailand and its rationale was provided by the representative of the Pollution Control Department, Ms. Jantira Duangsai. The new legislation on Public Procurement that allows the government to procure environmentally friendly products and services was presented by the representative of the Comptroller General’s Department, Ms. Suthasinee Srimanasak.

Rangsit Municipality has implemented the green procurement policy through a national programme, “Green Office”, in which green procurement is one of the certification criteria. In 2020, Rangsit Municipality achieved 40% on its green public procurement. However, the organisation foresees a potential GPP increase in monetary value and the number of products and services categories into their green procurement list.

The pilot testing aims to support the pilot agencies perform better GPP by increasing the portion of green products and services, expanding products and services categories on the green procurement list, and obtaining feedback that will allow the draft policy to be more appropriate for implementation.

Key Observations

• The strong commitment of the management level of Rangsit Municipality was the key motivation of participating in the pilot testing.
• Local government agencies have a green procurement policy in place. However, the implementation is limited due to a lack of understanding about the new regulations and the availability of green products on the GPP list.
• GPP reporting and monitoring system are the main challenges for the local government agencies. However, the development of the Green Integration Policy and the creation of a database of green products and services were recognised by participants as very valuable support provided by SWITCH-Asia assistance to Thailand.

 Follow-up Activities

• Conduct the pilot projects and activities at the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Rangsit City Municipality, and Pollution Control Department according to the plan.
• Monitor and report the results of the pilot projects.
• Prepare the 2^nd draft Green Integration Policy and the National Green Directory.
• Prepare media materials to promote the final draft of the Green Integration Policy and the National Green Directory.
• Organise a seminar with approximately 200 participants to present the pilot testing results and to promote the 2nd draft policy and National Green Directory.

Photos of the event can be found at the following link.