The Environmental Fund, led by the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) hosted “The Environmental Fund Symposium 2023: Thai Climate Initiative (ThaiCI) Fund Kick-Off” event to introduce the ThaiCI Fund, a new climate finance mechanism to enhance climate action implementation of small-scale actors in Thailand.

Bangkok, 17^th August 2023 – Mr Thalearngsak Petchsuwan, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, presided over the launch of the ThaiCI. Participants included Mr Hans-Ulrich Südbeck, Chargé d’affaires, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bangkok, Thailand; Mr Phirun Saiyasitpanich, Secretary-General, Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP); Mr Philipp Behrens, Head of Division, International Climate Initiative (IKI), Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) (online participation); and Mr Reinhold Elges, Country Director of GIZ Thailand. Around 200 representatives from government agencies, local administration authorities, academic institutes, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the private sector, and the media attended the event at Pullman Bangkok King Power, Bangkok.

The Thai Climate Initiative or ThaiCI Fund serves as a financial mechanism to support climate protection in Thailand. Implemented under the Environmental Fund, it receives up to EUR 6.5 million in funding from IKI of the BMWK including the technical support and the seed funding to finance climate projects. The primary focus of the fund is to provide financial support for climate mitigation and adaptation projects, enhance the operational capacity of the Environmental Fund, and strengthen the capabilities of climate project implementors.

During the launch, Mr Thalearngsak Petchsuwan expressed gratitude to Germany for its continued partnership in addressing climate and global environmental challenges and highlighted Thailand’s commitment to finding solutions to address climate change issues and adapt to its impacts. Factors that will lead to success in the implementation (of climate actions) include finding appropriate and sufficient funding sources for climate change projects. For this reason, the cooperation with the German government to establish Thailand’s Climate Fund under the Environmental Fund is therefore a symbol of the positive relationship that aims to create operational results leading to mutual success in addressing global climate change problems.

Mr Hans-Ulrich Südbeck, Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bangkok, Thailand, emphasised the expansion of cooperation between Thailand and Germany on the political, economic, and civil society levels, promoting sustainable development while addressing climate and global environmental challenges. “We gather to celebrate the launch of the ThaiCI—the initiative that kick-starts a vital climate funding line within Thailand. We hold great hope that it will serve as a significant means of implementation, transforming political climate commitments into concrete and impactful actions,” he said,

In his keynote speech titled “Financial mechanisms to drive climate actions at the local level”, Mr Phirun Saiyasitpanich, Secretary-General of ONEP, said that ThaiCI aims to attract small-scale stakeholders including government agencies, local administration authorities, academic institutes, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and the private sector. The ThaiCI Fund will primarily provide subsidies through calls for proposals for mitigation and adaptation projects. The 1^st ThaiCI call for proposals will tentatively be announced by the end of 2023. It is also expected that ThaiCI will open further opportunities for partnership with other domestic and international funding.

Mr Philipp Behrens, Head of Division of IKI at BMWK, celebrated the launch in his virtual keynote speech, saying: “From the International Climate Initiative (IKI) to the Thai Climate Initiative (ThaiCI): we mark the 15th anniversary of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) in 2023 and acknowledge Thailand as one of the 14 IKI prioritised countries.” He noted that ThaiCI is a new pilot initiative supported by the IKI Country Call, which aims to enhance and transform domestic financial instruments into climate finance instruments. It shares similarities with the IKI Small Grants, supporting small-scale, local, and regional climate actions.

A a panel discussion on “Scaling up natural resources and environmental management to climate actions” was also held during the event. It brought together environmental and climate project implementors to highlight the importance of integrating climate actions into natural resources and environmental management. An exhibition about ThaiCI, the Environmental Fund and its partner institutions was also displayed providing information about climate actions and climate finance.

Mr Reinhold Elges, Country Director of GIZ Thailand, congratulated Thailand on its first step in having a climate-specific funding line and expressed confidence that the ThaiCI would build a strong foundation for Thailand to implement ambitious climate actions. “This transformation will bring positive changes in all sectors of the economy and society. On behalf of the German Federal Government, GIZ will continue to work with our Thai partners to turn ambition into action. We have most of the solutions we need for the transformation and GIZ will support Thailand in their rapid implementation,” he said.

ThaiCI is one of the four components of the Thai-German Cooperation on Energy, Mobility and Climate Programme (TGC EMC). TGC EMC aims to foster cooperation towards Thailand’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 with a budget of 26 million EUR supported by the IKI funding line of Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany (BMWK) and implemented by GIZ over five years (2023-2027).