On 23 June 2026, The Southeast Asia Climate and Clean Air Initiative (SEACAI), implemented by GIZ and co-funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), held its Regional Planning Workshop in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The full-day workshop brought together more than 40 representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat, the Technical Working Group on Transboundary Haze Pollution in the Mekong Sub-Region (TWG Mekong), and national government agencies from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, alongside international organisations and academic institutions.
Dr Patrick Büker, Senior Technical Advisor, GIZ, presented SEACAI’s three-output structure: 1) policy support to ASEAN-wide short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) cooperation, 2) promotion of SLCP mitigation at the Greater Mekong Subregion level, and 3) country-level demonstration pilots in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand. Key targets include developing new SLCP mitigation options for ASEAN, establishing a virtual knowledge hub, and delivering innovative sectoral solutions and awareness campaigns by 2028.
Progress to date spans national planning workshops in Thailand (April 2026), Cambodia (April 2026) and Lao PDR (June 2026), as well as CLEAR Sky Strategy task force meetings and participation in regional policy dialogues. In Thailand, pilot ideas are being explored across agriculture and forestry, including dry-digestion biogas from rice straw and fire control management. In Cambodia, demonstration pilots have been identified covering topics from burn-free village pathways to regenerative cashew and waste reduction. In Lao PDR, field missions to provinces and stakeholder consultations have informed the operational plan for 2026-2028.
Regional policy landscape
Dr Vong Sok highlighted the CLEAR Sky Strategy and Chiang Rai Plan of Action as platforms for sub-regional collaboration, while calling for revision and updates to reflect current cross-cutting priorities including climate change, decarbonisation, peatlands and community engagement.
Bounmany Soulideth, Deputy Director of the Pollution Control Division, Department of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment of Lao PDR, noted that Lao PDR’s investment framework is nearing enforcement, with the Ministry of Natural Resources merging with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry as a significant institutional milestone. Agricultural burning management and sustainable peatland practices were identified as priority areas needing concrete support.
Key lessons from 2025 were also shared: close coordination between the ASEAN Secretariat and GIZ has supported project progress, and SEACAI’s inclusion in ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC) agendas signals growing recognition of the climate-air pollution nexus. Challenges remain, including delays in the official endorsement of the Implementation Agreement and a temporary pause in regional haze cooperation linked to the Cambodia-Thailand border situation.
Afterwards, participants worked in groups to develop regional and sub-regional approaches, calibrate project indicators, co-develop activities and set indicative milestones for 2026-2028. They agreed that stronger regional collaboration, such as knowledge exchange or experience sharing, would be needed to drive SLCP mitigation more effectively. However, they expressed concerns about the ambitious levels to reach the goals within the project timeframe and highlighted the importance of using the existing tools or platforms such as the ASEAN Haze Portal to further drive regional cooperation.
Discussions also covered project coordination, including decision-making flows between the project, TWG Mekong and the future Project Steering Committee (PSC). The workshop concluded with closing remarks by Philippe Brunet, Head of Cooperation, Regional Thematic Hub in Bangkok, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
This regional planning workshop marks an important milestone for ASEAN collaborations across the region; SEACAI will consolidate the workshop results by July 2026, and finalise the regional and sub-regional work plan accordingly in the third quarter of 2026.
SEACAI Project from Cambodia, Laos and SEACAI Thailand presented each country’s workplan
The Southeast Asia Climate & Clean Air Initiative (SEACAI) works to reduce short-lived climate pollutants across ASEAN, with focused action in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Through regional cooperation, local demonstrations in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, and knowledge exchange, SEACAI addresses transboundary haze from agricultural burning, forest fires and waste combustion – pollutants that affect health, agriculture and economies across borders.
SEACAI operates on 6 million euros of co-financing, and is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), implemented by GIZ in partnership with Pollution Control Departments in participating countries. Running from 2025 to 2028, the project builds solutions with relevant agencies from both public and private sectors.
