Transport and Climate Change Week or TCC Week was first held in 2017 by GIZ to bring together experts and decision-makers from around the world and to facilitate knowledge sharing and networking for a better future of transport. This year, the 4th TCCW was held from 21 – 25 June 2021 via a new digital platform and a virtual conference room to allow for activities from Berlin and other different time zones because of the continuing pandemic situation. The programme allowed the participants to build capacities, to establish relations and to network with peers, partners and experts. The programme of the TCC Week 2021 covered a wide range of topics and aspects related to sustainable transport including the linkage between transport to other broader topics like post-pandemic recovery, disaster and gender issues.
The Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP) under the Thai Ministry of Transport participated in TCC Week through the preparation of country updates. Mr. Athibhu Chitranukroh, Director to the Bureau of Planning and Acting Director to the Bureau of Safety Planning, OTP, provided a comprehensive overview of the current transport situation in Thailand, underlining impacts from the pandemic, highlighting ongoing projects and cooperation, revealing future expectations and emphasising the commitment to move Thailand towards more sustainable transportation.
“When we get past this crisis, we cannot go back to the world as it was before, we must not forget our responsibilities in fighting climate change and Thailand takes this issue very seriously. Therefore, we are looking forward to continuing the excellent collaboration between Thailand and Germany targeting sustainable transport development.” said Mr. Athibhu
Ms. Chutinthorn Mankhong, Chief of Sustainable Transport Promotion Group under the Bureau of Safety Planning, OTP,participated in the virtual “Global Welcome World Café” session where she addressed and responded to the questions related to rail development, the trend of digitalisation for multimodal application and the development of the Electric Vehicle (EV) market, all hot topics in Thailand.
“The trending topic in Thailand is our effort to support the electrification of public transport. Thailand is now forming an EV roadmap for Thailand until 2030. The EV share in automobile manufacture is expected to reach 30% of total automobile manufacture in Thailand by 2030, and 50% by 2035. In order to reach these targets, the Thai government plans to support a nationwide set-up of charging infrastructure, a change from combustion engine buses to EV buses produced by local manufacturing companies, and a revision of the excise tax structure to lower the tax rate of EV.” said Ms. Chutinthorn
On July 23, Mrs. Pochanie Kajonpredanon, Senior Advisor in the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning – Government of Thailand, participated as a panelist in the session “Role of Women in Decarbonising Transport in Asia”. The session focused on the exchange of thoughts and experiences regarding the role of women and visibility of women’s needs followed by a discussion on. solutions, measures, and policies to emphasise gender issues in the current mobility and urban development landscape. During the session, Mrs. Pochanie talked about the importance of involving females in the process of decarbonising the transport sector in Thailand, especially policies makers, labours, and transport users based mostly on what she has experienced and found throughout her career as an urban planner.
During the ‘Expert Clinic’ on June 23, country delegations conferred with top international experts on many different topics such as decarbonising freight transport, low carbon fuel, digital solution for public transport, walking and cycling policy, road safety and electrification of public transport to promote a climate-friendly modal shift. Delegates can select experts relevant to their needs to get detailed information, tips and tricks and provide them new insights on international experiences on specific transport topics. Urban Mobility Tech (UMT), the founder of an electric tuk-tuk service in Bangkok (MuvMi), attended the Expert Clinic session as one of the country delegations on the topic of “Micromobility and future trends”. UMT also engaged with Dr. Chris Cherry from the University of Tennessee in a knowledge exchange on lightweight electric vehicles (micromobility) which include bicycles, electric bikes, electric scooters, and electric skateboards. These vehicles consume less energy and provide more travel flexibility. This exchange focused on electric Tuk-Tuk service performance and, user behavior analysis for more targeted sustainable development in Bangkok and future trends of autonomous vehicle (self-driving vehicle).
Furthermore, experts from Thailand contributed to the programme as speakers in sessions on many different topics, especially those related to the ASEAN region. On June 24, Dr. Nuwong Chollacoop from Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Research Team Leader of the National Energy Technology Center Thailand and Dr. Yossapong Laoonual, Head of Mobility & Vehicle Technology Research Center at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) spoke at the session on Electric 2 and 3 Wheelers in Southeast Asia. Dr. Yossapong provided insights on the current electric 2&3 wheeler development, such as electric passenger cars, buses, motorcycles, and Tuk-Tuk in Thailand, highlighting the vision of Thailand to become a global production and supplier hub of electric vehicles and automotive parts by 2035 while Dr. Nuwong led the discussion on the prospects for electric 2&3 wheelers in Thailand’s commercial sector and the support of national policy from transport, energy, and industrial sectors to increase more domestic production of electric motorcycle. Their expertise contributed to an interesting discussion throughout the session.
Throughout the past three years of Thailand’s participation in the TCC Week, the TRANSfer project has been linking partners and stakeholders from Thailand who work in the field of transport with international experts. Especially now, with COVID-19 affecting international travel, TCC Week virtual programmes helped not only to decrease the travel-related carbon footprint of the participants, but also allowed more partners to join the event with just “one click”. With this opportunity, partners and stakeholders in Thailand were ensured of a supportive environment for information exchange, discussion as well as continuation of good collaboration in the future on more ambitious carbon neutral development of the transport sector by underlining the integration of renewable energies together with our efforts in the field of vehicle electrification.