Cabinet approves Climate Change Bill for carbon tax collection, trading carbon credits

The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Climate Change Bill, which aims to establish a national climate change policy committee, collect carbon taxes, and treat carbon credits as transferable assets.

Lalida Persvivatana, deputy government spokeswoman, stated that the Cabinet approved the bill proposed by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, which will serve as the master law on climate change.

The spokeswoman added that the bill would support Thailand’s commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and help the country reach its carbon neutrality goal by 2050 and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2065.

Lalida noted that, once enacted, the bill would provide a comprehensive framework for managing GHG emissions.

The spokeswoman outlined the six major components of the bill:

• Establishment of the National Climate Change Policy Committee, which will set policies and goals for GHG emissions and define Thailand’s position on GHG emissions at the international level.
• Creation of a climate fund as a state legal entity. The fund will use various carbon credit tools to support investments and adaptation across all sectors.

• Development of a database on GHG emissions and an operational plan to reduce emissions. The bill also mandates the drafting of a national adaptation plan for all government agencies to follow.
• Introduction of an emissions trading system (ETS) and a mechanism for Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) pricing. The bill will also recognize carbon credits as sellable and transferable assets.
• Definition of carbon taxes on certain commodities, with the Excise Department and Customs Department tasked with collecting these taxes. An organic law will be enacted to facilitate tax collection.
• Establishment of a standard for classifying economic clusters based on climate and environmental impact, creating a taxonomy for use in policy reference, investment, and green fund allocation.

The bill will also impose penalties on any firm or organization found to have falsified GHG emission reports, the spokeswoman added.

She concluded by saying that the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry would now draft the organic law for the bill and consult other agencies on the ETS and CBAM implementation carefully.