On 23 September 2019, H.E. General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom Thailand, together with H.E. Mr. Don Pramudwinai, Minister of Foreign Affairs and H.E. Mr. Varawut Silpa-archa, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, attended the United Nations Climate Action Summit 2019 during the 74^th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, at the United Nations Headquarters, New York.

The Summit is the initiative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and aims to enhance countries and stakeholders’ climate actions to hold the increase in the global average temperature and to achieve targets of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Prime Minister delivered a statement on behalf of the ASEAN Member States by announcing key ASEAN targets on climate action in two sectors, namely: (1) Energy Transition — ASEAN aims to reduce energy intensity by 30% and increase the component of renewable energy mix by 23% by 2025; (2) Land Transport — ASEAN aims to reduce the average fuel consumption of new light-duty vehicles sold in ASEAN by 26% between 2015 and 2025, introduce and strengthen fiscal policy measures based on fuel economy or on CO₂ emissions at national level, and promote the adoption of national fuel consumption standards for light-duty vehicles. The Prime Minister stressed that no one country can fight climate change alone, and partnership among countries and stakeholders is vital and that ASEAN stands ready to advance our partnership with the global community to address climate change to ensure sustainability for present and future generations. 

The ASEAN Joint Statement to the United Nations Climate Action Summit 2019 was initiated by Thailand as the Chair of ASEAN and a result from the negotiation among ASEAN Member States, which reflected ASEAN’s concrete climate-related targets and emphasized the role of ASEAN as a partner for sustainability in international fora, consistent with Thailand’s ASEAN Chairmanship theme of “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”.