Renewable energy achievements in CO 2 mitigation in Thailand's NDCs

Thailand had summited its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) in 2015 and ratified the Paris Agreement in September 2016. Its INDCs stated that by 2030 GHG emissions will be reduced by 20–25% when compared to the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario by using mainly domestic renewable energy resources and energy efficiency improvement. Therefore, this paper assesses the potential of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction by the use of renewable energy in Thailand's INDCs and the economic impacts from GHG emission reduction. This paper employed the Asia-Pacific Integrated Model/Computable General Equilibrium (AIM/CGE). Besides the BAU scenario, four mitigation scenarios are assessed at given GHG emission levels and renewable power generation targets. Results show that Thailand's INDC can be achieved under the current renewable energy target in Thailand's Power Development Plan 2015. As a result, macroeconomic loss will be small under the light GHG reduction target; however, it will be large under the stringent GHG emission reduction target. The GDP loss ranges from 0.2% in the case of a 20% reduction target to 3.1% in the case of a 40% reduction target in 2030. Thus, the availability of land for deploying the renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and biomass needs to be assessed

Asian INDC Assessments: The Case of Thailand

On 1st October 2015, Thailand had submitted its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and stated that by 2030 GHG emissions will be reduced by 20–25% when compared to the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. The Paris Agreement was adopted on 12 December 2015 at the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Paris. In addition, Thailand provided signature at the United Nations in New York on 22 April 2016 and ratified the Paris Agreement on 21 September 2016. This paper assesses the impacts of GHG emission reduction targets in Thailand’s INDC by using the Asia-Pacific Integrated Model/Computable General Equilibrium (AIM/CGE). Four scenarios are established by the given GHG emission constraints and the renewable power generation target. Results show that, under the Power Development Plan in 2015, the INDC target is achievable. As a result, macroeconomic loss is low in low reduction target, but it will be high in the high reduction target. In addition, it needs more renewable energy push to realize stringent climate policy. Thus, the availability of land for deploying the renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, and biomass needs to be evaluated to meet higher GHG emission levels. Furthermore, the stringent GHG emission levels also induce the reduction of other air pollutants. Finally, the result of this study has been used in the design of roadmap for GHG reduction targets in 2030, and Thailand has more confidence on the achievement of the Paris Agreement

Scaling up climate ambition post-2030: a long-term GHG mitigation analysis for Thailand

Thailand’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) aims to reduce 20 to 25% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with respect to the projected reference level of NDC in 2030, respectively, in its unconditional and conditional scenarios. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C would require net zero carbon dioxide emissions globally by around 2050. Thailand’s current energy system is highly fossil fuel dependent and requires enormous transformations to achieve more stringent GHG emission reduction targets beyond its NDC. This paper seeks to estimate the level and the intensities of Thailand’s energy system and their economy-wide effects post-2030 under the business as usual and 16 GHG emission reduction scenarios ranging from 30 to 100% by 2050. A computable general equilibrium analysis using the AIM/Hub model is employed to estimate the macroeconomic impacts of meeting the unconditional and conditional emission reductions of Thailand’s NDC in 2030 along with varying GHG emission reductions in 2050. Results show that renewables–constituting solar, wind, biomass and hydro and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies account for more than 95% in the power generation mix by 2050, if 100% GHG emission reduction from the 2010 level is to be achieved. Electricity generation based on biomass both with and without CCS will occupy a major share in the investments by 2050 in all the conditional and unconditional NDC scenarios. A rapid increase in carbon sequestration occurs from 2040 onwards through the deployment of CCS and bioenergy with CCS (BECCS) technologies in all the conditional and unconditional NDC scenarios. Carbon prices lie in the range of 3.4–266.2 US$/tCO2eq during 2025–2050 to achieve 100$2005 over the period 2010–2050 in the 100% GHG reduction scenarios. The transmission and distribution investments in the power sector need to increase by 30–35% to attain 100% GHG emission reductions during 2010–2050. The trade deficit improves by up to 23–29% in the various GHG mitigation scenarios in 2050