Paris will heat up in the winter month of December when delegates from 190 nations gather for a key climate change meeting, better known as Cop 21 (abbreviation of the 21st yearly session of the Conference of Parties).
Thailand, like other developing countries at the conference, is expected to announce the country's target plan for 2020 to reduce the emissions of greenhouses gases, in particular CO2, which are blamed for climate change. The plan is known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) -- a half-compulsory promise by developing nations to reduce emissions.
Since 2005, the country has slashed 23 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, which represents 7% in voluntary reductions. The government is considering the new target, which is said to be somewhere between a 7-20% reduction. That cut will be achieved through various measures such as increasing forest areas (although at the shameful cost of evicting local villagers and indigenous peoples from designated forest reserves), energy saving, and more use of renewable energy such as farm waste, solar energy and biomass. Many people regard the new 7-20% reduction target as too ambitious, especially as the Prayut Chan-o-cha government is promoting the use of coal, which is a fossil fuel.
Under the national Power Development Plan (PDP) 2015-2036, the use of coal will increase from 15% to 20-25% to "maintain energy security", as claimed by energy planners. Even a high-level agency such as the Egat (Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand) has -- in TV commercials -- ridiculed renewable energy as expensive and insufficient to deal with rising electricity demand.
Suphakit Nantavorakarn, an economic and renewable energy advocate from the Healthy Public Policy Foundation, said the government needs to overhaul its energy policy if it wants to achieve the INDCs.
On energy production, the government's passion for coal-fired power plants will make it harder for Thailand to reduce massive fossil fuel emissions, he said. Fossil-fuel supporters might beg to differ, but the trend of energy production around the globe has gradually shifted towards renewable energy. Pollution, unpleasant environmental effects and carbon emissions from burning coal are factors that moved western governments to cut the use coal and embrace cleaner energies for the sake of a better environment.
"Indeed, Thailand can do much better than a 7% emission cut if the government gets serious about promoting and developing renewables. There is a lot of potential for the country to generate electricity from farm waste, garbage landfill and energy saving projects. Solar energy is becoming more affordable. The world trend towards renewable energy is clear, yet Thailand still sticks to an archaic myth of energy security," says Mr Suphakit, who last year conducted a research study on Thai carbon emission reduction policy for Kepa, a Finnish NGO.
He believes Thailand is wasting opportunities to develop and advance the renewable energy business and reduce emissions. "We are becoming a market for the coal industry, a market that has already been forsaken by western countries," he says.
Indeed, policy shifts in western countries regarding the coal industry have forced traders to find new markets in developing nations where environmental standards are lower. But the trend in the west involves more than just reducing the numbers of coal plants. In May, Norway's parliament reportedly formally endorsed the selling off of coal investments from its $900 billion (31 trillion baht) sovereign wealth fund, making it the biggest institution yet to join a growing international movement to abandon certain fossil fuel stocks.
Mr Suphakit also worries about the state policy on forest protection concerning climate change. Under efforts to produce "carbon sinks" by expanding forests, there will be more evictions and arrests of forest-dwelling villagers. "By that logic, the government should also arrest owners of factories that emit carbon," he says.
Bantoon Sretthasiroj, a member of the National Reform Council (NRC) and an expert on climate change policy, says the government needs to stop talking and start acting on embedding adaptation and mitigation strategies into state policy.
"The fight against climate change has already moved towards adaptation and mitigation plans to help countries and people withstand the effects of climate change and adjust their activities to suit the reality," he said, referring to some developed countries.
He urged the government to adopt a national plan on climate change, and make it a national priority in the National Economic and Social Development plan. In doing so, the climate change policy will be followed by all related ministries.
As examples of how to enact that policy, transport agencies must think of low-carbon transportation modes other than road construction. With agriculture, the authorities may need to adopt policies that reduce plantation areas to prevent droughts and adjust irrigation patterns to manage floods. The Interior Ministry, for its part, will have to put in place climate-friendly town planning codes, Mr Bantoon said.
"Negotiations on climate change at the United Nations are one thing, but within the country, we need policies to deal with the effects of climate change," he said. "So far, I have seen few efforts to adapt to that change and reduce its effects."
Anchalee Kongrut writes about the environment in the Life section, Bangkok Post.