On 9 February 2021, EU SWITCH-Asia SCP Facility, in cooperation with the Pollution Control Department (PCD), the Office of National Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) and the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion (DEQP), organised a kick-off seminar for piloting the draft Green Integration Policy at the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).
With more than 380 participants from listed companies virtually and physically attending the event, the seminar aimed at promoting green and sustainable procurement in piloting agencies.
Despite the fact that Green Public Procurement (GPP) is quite new and unexplored in Southeast Asia, Thailand has been working on its implementation since 2008. In his opening remarks, Mr Thalerngsak Petchsuwan, Deputy Director of the Pollution Control Department (PCD) highlighted the Thai government's efforts in pushing forward green public procurement and encouraged listed companies to implement the latter.
Enshrined in SDG12 on Responsible Consumption and Production, in the specific target 12.7 on promoting public procurement practices that are sustainable in accordance with national policies and priorities, GPP constitutes an important tool to promote the use of greener products and services by public authorities, and a powerful way to achieve environmental policy goals relating to climate change, biodiversity loss, resource efficiency and sustainable production and consumption. In his welcome speech, Arab Hoballah, Team Leader of the EU SWITCH-Asia SCP Facility stressed the importance of green public procurement in enabling green recovery with business partners.
While Ms Jantira Duangsai, from the Pollution Control Department explained in depth the Green Public Procurement Policy of Thailand, Ms Suthasinee Srimanasak, from the Comptroller General’s Department, introduced the new legislation on Public Procurement, one that enables the government to procure environmentally friendly products and services.
Mr Kirati Kosicharoen, Executive Vice President and Head of Accounting & Finance Group and Head of Corporate Services Group of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) also introduced SET’s Green Procurement Policy and its implementation.
During this seminar, SWITCH-Asia SCP Facility experts introduced the activities that have been implemented so far in Thailand and the Action Plan of the pilot testing. During interactive seminar discussions, more than 75 percent of participants reported having in place green procurement in their organizations; 50 percent expressed their willingness to implement green procurement as a priority goal.
Lack of knowledge and understanding on how to incorporate sustainability considerations into public procurement remain main challenges. However, the creation of a database of green products and services was recognized by participants among the most valuable support provided by SWITCH-Asia assistance to Thailand.
