The Ministry of Interior (MOI) is marking the success of local body efforts to manage household waste and cut carbon emissions.
It on Wednesday declared the success of "Food Waste Management for Climate Action and a Commitment to Sustainable Thailand" as it aims to expand efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and manage carbon credits in line with goals mapped out by the United Nations.
Local government organisations have been managing household waste through the MOI's Waste Management for Climate Action programme led by Suttipong Juljarern, permanent secretary for the interior.
He did it in cooperation with the UN resident coordinator in Thailand, Gita Sabharwal, and Krit Jitjang, managing director of Kasikornbank as network partners, as well as the governors of the pilot provinces of Lamphun, Loei, Amnat Charoen and Samut Songkhram.
During an event to mark the milestone, Mr Suttipong said the MOI has been working to address waste management with local governments in all 76 provinces since 2019 and has signed an MoU with the UN and helped developed this project.
The MOI converted these efforts into carbon credits by certifying them with the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization (TGO).
Proceeds from trade in credits with the private sector are returned to circulate in community development.
"The Ministry of Interior has joined a network with Kasikornbank to accept carbon exchanges from four pilot provinces," Mr Sutthipong said.
Within the next month, the project will get underway in 22 provinces and more players from the private sector will join carbon exchanges in the future, he added.
Ms Sabharwal also gave a speech on the topic of "Cooperation in driving to achieve sustainable Thailand goals".
She said the effort has helped localise the UN's Sustainable Development Goals to more than 14 million households and ushered in carbon trading for the first time in Thailand, adding that the project is a good example for other countries in the region to follow.