On 25 and 26 January 2024, representatives of the Thai-German Cooperation on Energy, Mobility and Climate (TGC EMC) project visited the project’s main political partner, the Department of Climate Change and Environment (DCCE), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, to provide an update on the project’s progress according to its work plan and agree on the future trajectory of project implementation.

The TGC EMC project, funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) under Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and implemented by GIZ, consists of five components—Renewable Energy, Transport, Decarbonisation in Industry, Biomass to Energy, and Climate Finance (Thai Climate Initiative: ThaiCI). The meeting with DCCE was joined by Mr Prapassit Siribhodi, Director of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Guidelines and Capacity Development Section, and Ms Nareerat Panmanee, Director of Strategy and International Cooperation Division, along with other DCCE representatives.

The TGC EMC representatives, led by the Project Director, Dr Dominika Kalinowska, provided participants with an update on each component’s work progress, presenting activities carried out in 2023, which consisted of various meetings with key stakeholders in the public and private sectors, workshops, and site visits. In addition, the two sides discussed future activities planned for each component, such as capacity-building events, technical studies, as well as tasks required to prepare for the establishment of the City Lab. Moreover, participants explored potential topics within DCCE’s interests that could be supported by the project, including developing Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) guidelines for all project activities, conducting a study on electric vehicles (EV) for governmental fleet procurement, and connecting with the Sustainable City Network for the City Lab activities of the transport component.

The meeting was highly successful, with both sides engaging in constructive dialogue and ultimately reaching a consensus on various crucial points. With open dialogue and mutual understanding between partners, this collaborative approach will be crucial to ensuring the fruitful outcomes of TGC EMC, contributing to Thailand’s carbon neutrality goal.