Marking sustainable events in Thailand with carbon offset that generates benefits for local communities will soon become a possibility when the five Thai alliance organisations made a soft launch of Thailand’s first carbon trading platform designed particularly for enterprises wishing to trade carbon in medium and small batch.
The platform is now partially experimented among individual travelers and is expected for trial among MICE entrepreneurs at the end of this year.
The five organisations are The Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade of Thailand, the owner of the platform “Carbon Neutrality 4 All” project, The Central Group, who is the funder of the platform, The Ministry of Interior, who brings carbon credit for trade on the platform, Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) and Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), who will promote the use of the platform among the network of their industry players.
The five signed a memorandum of understanding last week to collaborate on the project during the soft launch of the platform in Bangkok. It is part of their joint effort in driving Thailand towards net zero carbon target through carbon credit trading of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), including MICE, tourism and service sectors, in the country. The platform is designed to meet the needs of entrepreneurs wishing to source premium quality carbon credit from carbon dioxide and methane reduction program.
The platform features CERO application for carbon footprint calculation and can be connected to energy-control system of the venues and the CERO artificial intelligence (AI) in visitor’s mobile phone. This connection will help make data collection for carbon footprint calculation easier for event organizers. Event attendees can also play around with the Green Activities feature while attending different events, such as monitoring carbon footprint from their travel and food consumption. The platform is developed by Vekin (Thailand), the government-sanctioned body specializing in engineering decarbonization and carbon tokenization.
Carbon credit offered on the platform stems from household waste management of local communities under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior and certification of Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO), an autonomous governmental organisation under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
Event organisers, when offsetting their carbon emission on the platform, are contributing to the revenue of local communities undertaking household waste management project while earning accumulated points that can be used for discount on the purchase of products and services in participating retail stores.
Mr. Chiruit Isarangkun Na Ayuthaya, President of TCEB, stated that TCEB’s collaboration in “Carbon Neutrality 4 All” platform project is part of the bureau’s strategies “Partnership for Business Success” and “Go Sustainability” for Thai MICE industry. TCEB will promote the use of carbon credit trading platform among Thai MICE operators following a few years’ capacity building on carbon avoidance calculation for Thai MICE industry players. Using the platform can be a proven record of how Thai MICE industry can reduce environmental negative impact and generate positive economic and social impacts for local communities.