The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with New York-listed Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) to jointly explore innovative solutions for Thailand's and Asia's emerging carbon markets.
The collaboration plans to leverage both organisations' strengths in data analytics, technology infrastructure, and market operations to assess feasibility, share insights, and design optimal market frameworks.
SET president Asadej Kongsiri said the bourse envisions carbon credit trade on a transparent platform as enabling the transition of Thai and Asian businesses to a low-carbon economy.
This initiative is a core part of the bourse's 2025 corporate strategy and aligns with Thailand's national policy framework, particularly the Climate Change Act, he said.
The upcoming legislation is expected to introduce carbon taxation, emissions trading, and carbon credits as core pricing mechanisms.
The SET is committed to studying and evaluating options for developing the required trading infrastructure to ensure a fair, transparent and reliable carbon trading platform, said Mr Asadej.
He said the partnership will benefit from ICE's expertise as the operator of the world's largest energy and environmental derivatives markets, providing SET with valuable insights for developing Thailand's carbon market infrastructure.
Founded in 2000, the Fortune 500 company hosts the most liquid carbon markets in the world with a notional value of US$1 trillion per year.
Gordon Bennett, global head of environmental markets at ICE, said over the last two decades the company has built and operated financial technology and market infrastructure to support the growth of carbon markets, making it uniquely positioned to support Thailand in establishing a robust carbon market.
The MoU, effective from this month, is a major step in Thailand developing a robust carbon trading platform, said Mr Bennett.
By leveraging ICE's financial technology and global environmental market expertise, the SET aims to find the most suitable framework and mechanisms for the primary and secondary markets, paving the way for a comprehensive carbon market ecosystem in Thailand, said Mr Asadej. The development of a fully integrated ecosystem will unlock new opportunities for Thai businesses and investors, providing major contributions to nationally determined contribution targets, according to the SET.