Mr. Kodshayut Boriboonchatuporn, Deputy Governor-Powerplant Development of EGAT (left) and Mr. Tim Mahler, Project Director of RAC NAMA, GIZ Thailand (right) signed Financing Agreement between the two parties on 20 December 2017 in Bangkok.
At the end of 2017, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) have signed a Financing Agreement to provide financial support to the green transformation of the cooling sector in Thailand. The cooling sector is already responsible for 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions in Thailand. If current growth rates continue unabated, that figure could climb to 50 per cent by 2030.
As part of the NAMA Support Project “Thailand Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (RAC NAMA)” project, EUR 8.3 million are provided to set up the “RAC NAMA Fund”. EGAT will be responsible for managing the fund and for implementing financial support mechanisms to promote highly energy-efficient and climate-friendly cooling technologies that use natural refrigerants for cooling. The fund addresses the investment needs of producers, consumers, SME end-users as well as supports the service sector in the form of training and testing facilities. During the implementation the Fund will create a substantial direct leverage from private and public sources.
By bringing international climate finance to Thailand, the pioneering RAC NAMA Fund should be considered a great opportunity in helping to increase incentives and alternatives for the RAC sector in Thailand as it moves towards green cooling technology and thus supporting Thai industry to stay competitive in the global market. The key potential of the implementation of Thailand’s RAC NAMA Fund involves knowledge transfer and learning experiences with climate finance, not only domestically but globally, in transitioning to a low-carbon economy.