On 14th March 2024, Mr. Cherdchai Chaivaivid, Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs chaired a workshop on “Harnessing Investment Treaties for Climate Action: Thailand’s Next Steps.” at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The workshop, attended by representatives from more than 20 government agencies, addressed the key question of how Thailand can utilise investment treaties as a tool to drive climate action.

The speakers included experts from the Department of Climate Change and Environment (DCCE), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Singapore Management University and Chulalongkorn University. The representative of DCCE provided an overview of Thailand’s path towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero GHG emission by 2065, including Thailand’s Climate Change Master Plan 2015-2050, while the two academic experts highlighted the implication of substantive protection under investment treaties on the ability of States to adopt climate-related measures, recent trends on climate-related disputes, as well as the need to align investment treaties with the Paris Agreement. The workshop also discussed Thailand’s next steps for prevention and preparing for possible climate-related disputes.

This workshop is the second episode in the MFA Talk Series: “Investment Treaty in Action”, organised by the Department of International Economic Affairs, which serves as a platform to share information and exchange ideas among various Thai stakeholders on the evolving role of investment treaties in achieving economic development and other public policy objectives. It is a follow-up session to the webinar on “Fostering Climate Action through Investment Treaties”, organised on 2nd November 2023, in partnership with the OECD and UNCTAD, aiming to foster a better understanding and encourage in-depth discussion among relevant government agencies on the issue of investment treaties and climate change.