01/16/2025

Teaming Up to Promote Sustainable Finance in Thailand

Group picture

A successful Trilateral Capacity Building Training, organised by the IKI, took place in Bangkok.

In recent times, Thailand has made great progress in addressing global climate change. Alongside an anticipated new law on climate change, the country aims to develop its national emission trading scheme and sustainable finance taxonomies, as well as leveraging its capital markets in order to mobilise incremental funding to foster a transformation to a sustainable development pathway. As a timely response to the need to scale up climate-aligned financial flows, the IKI projects “Climate policy and biodiversity in Thailand” and “Sino-German Cooperation on Climate Change” organised a trilateral China-Germany-Thailand capacity-building workshop on sustainable finance. The event took place in Bangkok in November 2024. 

This event was co-hosted by the GIZ offices in Thailand and East Asia, with support from technical experts from the Chinese Institute of Finance and Sustainability (IFS) and German Climate & Company. The workshop aimed to provide an opportunity to bridge knowledge gaps, foster collaborations, and catalyse integrated climate and financial solutions by bringing together key policymakers, regulators, financial market experts, and other stakeholders. The trilateral cooperation workshop aimed to showcase best practice examples and lessons learned from the Chinese, German, and European context. It provided insights into China’s pioneering experiences and practices in green finance and sustainable finance in the areas of standard setting, policy formulation, product innovation, and creating government incentives. It also elaborated on how the Chinese and German financial sectors are responding to and addressing climate risks and opportunities in a global context. In addition, the technical contribution of German experts provided the Thai target audience with a holistic view of the EU’s sustainability-related policy framework, market trends, and their potential impact on the Thai industry. The joint capacity building approach leveraged the knowledge of both Chinese and German experts and delivered impactful capacity building in sustainable finance.

A Timely Initiative for Thailand

The training was conducted against the backdrop of Thailand accelerating its efforts towards carbon neutrality and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Through the Climate Change Act –a landmark piece of legislation currently under public consultation – the country is establishing the right regulatory environment and sending a clear policy signal by embedding carbon pricing instruments. In addition, the Thailand Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance will provide investment guidelines for high-emission sectors. These initiatives are a clear signal of Thailand's strong commitment to mobilising both public and private investments for climate resilience and a low-carbon transition. 

According to the IMF, an investment gap exceeding 1 trillion USD needs to be mobilised across the Asia-Pacific region to meet climate goals, as Ms Pimkarn Kattiyavong from GIZ Thailand mentioned in her opening remarks. To achieve this, capacity development for policy and financial stakeholders is critical. The workshop addressed this need by providing technical inputs and practical tools to align finance flows with sustainable development, as required by the Paris Agreement. 

Comprehensive Training Modules

The two-day event featured four key modules: Sustainable Finance, Sustainability Disclosure, Transition Finance and Plans, and Climate Resilience in the Financial Sector. The modules were carefully selected to not only cover the fundamentals of the most relevant topics, but also provide practical tools and insights that will enable sustainable decision-making and drive the development of local policies and practices.

As many companies in export-driven economies like Thailand and China are navigating the complex and rapidly changing landscape of sustainability disclosure requirements, frameworks such as ISSB, GRI, the EU’s CSRD, and CSDDD play a critical role in guiding organisations in disclosing and reporting on sustainability in order to ensure market integrity and transparency, as well as manage ESG risks. Through this training, participants gained a deeper understanding of these frameworks. 

Several rounds of group work and quizzes encouraging active participation and peer learning among policymakers and financial institutions complemented the interactive sessions. These formats successfully triggered lively discussions in the room and resulted in insightful presentations from the breakout groups.

Highlights of the Workshop

Key speakers included Dr Kittisak Prukkanone from Thailand's Department of Climate Change and Environment (DCCE) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, project leads from GIZ Thailand and East Asia, and experts from IFS and Climate & Company. Dr Janto Hess of GIZ East Asia emphasised the importance of international collaboration, in particular the role of Germany and China in advancing green finance standards such as the Common Ground Taxonomy. 

The great potential of linking taxonomies was highlighted by Mr Cheng Lin. He introduced the recent development of the Multi-Jurisdiction Common Ground Taxonomy (M-CGT), which Singapore joined in November, as a significant step towards harmonising sustainable finance taxonomies across the three regions. Developed by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the EU Directorate-General for Financial Stability (FISMA), and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the M-CGT builds on the existing EU-China Common Ground Taxonomy (CGT) to incorporate the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy (SAT). This move will not only contribute to enhanced interoperability, but also boost cross-border green finance and investment by reducing transaction costs and enabling more capital flows especially to developing economies. 

Positive Feedback and Impact

More than 70 Thai participants attended the training to deepen their understanding of sustainable and climate finance. 

The inclusion of diverse stakeholders, from government agencies to private sector representatives, as well as the high percentage of female participants, was seen as a key strength of the event. Many attendees expressed their commitment to implementing lessons learned within their organisations, signalling a broader ripple effect on Thailand’s financial ecosystem. Through initiatives like this, not only can Thailand strengthen its domestic policies but it can also contribute to regional and global climate resilience and the shared goals of the Paris Agreement.

With a clear roadmap and strengthened stakeholder capacity, Thailand is poised to lead the region in sustainable finance innovation and implementation. 

The link has been copied to the clipboard

Contact

IKI Office
Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft (ZUG) gGmbH
Stresemannstraße 69-71

10963 Berlin

iki-office@z-u-g.org

Related Videos

Video Thumbnail SSV Thailand

The content cannot be shown, because the marketing-cookies were denied. Click here , for accepting the cookies and show the video!

Related news

A woman at the lectern
07/16/2024

Launch of the NextGen Climate Dialogues: Youth engagement and academic exchange in China

read more Launch of the NextGen Climate Dialogues: Youth engagement and academic exchange in China
Fish swim around a coral
05/22/2024

Measures for a sustainable future

read more Measures for a sustainable future
Group sitting at a table
04/09/2024

Sino-German Expert Dialogues on Sustainable Finance

read more Sino-German Expert Dialogues on Sustainable Finance
Group photo teaser at COP28 Dubai
01/11/2024

A successful dialogue of the Sino-German climate partnership at COP28

read more A successful dialogue of the Sino-German climate partnership at COP28
12/20/2022

Sino-German Track II Dialogue

read more Sino-German Track II Dialogue
Globusausschnitt zeigt China
05/09/2022

IKI Interface Workshop China 2022

read more IKI Interface Workshop China 2022