Recent Movement on the Law on Climate Change

Background
Global climate change has become a major worldwide concern over the past several years as it has caused numerous observable impacts on the environment, e.g., rise in sea level, intense heatwaves, or flooding. Thus, in order to address the global problem of climate change and cooperate with the international community to tackle this problem, Thailand together with many countries ratified the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the “Paris Climate Agreement”) on 21 September 2016, and has been committed to achieving the objectives, which are to keep the increase of the global average temperature to well below two (2) degrees Celsius and to limit the temperature increase to one point five (1.5) degrees Celsius above pre-industrial level. This is the Paris Climate Agreement that the US President Joe Biden, in one of the first tasks on his inauguration day, just signed an executive order to re-join.

To implement the Paris Climate Agreement as agreed and accomplish its goals, Thailand, as one of the signatories, needs to direct efforts to, among others, reducing carbon emissions. Thailand expressed its nationally determined contribution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions twenty (20) to twenty-five (25) percent within the timeframe from 2021 to 2030. To do so, the Thai government gave the green light for the preparation of the Bill on Climate Change (the “Bill”). To date, there has been a public hearing on the Bill, which started in September 2020 and for which five (5) sessions were held before its conclusion on 19 October 2020.

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