On 6 August 2024, the Thai-German Cooperation on Energy, Mobility and Climate (TGC EMC) held its inaugural Steering Committee Meeting at the Department of Climate Change and Environment (DCCE) office in Bangkok. Chaired by Dr Phirun Saiyasitpanich, Director-General of DCCE, the meeting’s objective was to review the project’s progress and to solicit the committee’s guidance on its strategic direction and workplans.

The steering committee, in addition to DCCE, consists of the project’s political partner organisations that are directly engaged in the project’s cross-sectoral intervention areas. These include the Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO) and the Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE) under the Ministry of Energy, the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP) under the Ministry of Transport, the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and GIZ.

TGC EMC is a multisectoral project that engages with a diverse array of stakeholders to promote effective collaboration across five components: renewable energy, transport, decarbonisation in industry, biomass, and climate finance. The project is actively implementing its workplans, which involve designing integrated energy system planning towards net-zero emissions, developing policies for electric vehicles (EVs) and EV charging infrastructure, developing decarbonisation roadmaps for key industrial subsectors, and promoting biomass supply for the fuel switch. Recognising the need to enhance energy transition through sector coupling, TGC EMC will pilot innovative solutions in the “City Lab” areas to accelerate progress towards carbon neutrality, with the potential for these solutions to be scaled up in other areas. Additionally, the Thai Climate Initiative (ThaiCI) Fund serves as a financial mechanism to support local climate actions.

“Apart from exploring potential technology options and providing policy recommendation in different sectors, the project also emphasises piloting solutions in the City Lab, which is a valuable opportunity to innovate and drive synergy across the energy, transport, industrial, and biomass sectors. Moreover, the ThaiCI’s planned seed funding for the Environment Fund has the potential to leverage climate finance through additional private and public investments”, said Dr Phirun.

To officially establish the cooperation under TGC EMC Project, a decision has been made to formalise a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU signing ceremony, involving all relevant government sectoral agencies and GIZ, is anticipated to take place in the final quarter of 2024.

Funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) under Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), the TGC EMC project supports Thailand’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2050. Through its five components—Renewable Energy, Transport, Decarbonisation in Industry, Biomass, and Climate Finance, TGC EMC facilitates technology transfer, policy development, and business model innovation.