If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our or .
| Sourced From |
Thailand is considering tax incentives for carbon trading and promoting consolidation of small Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects to jumpstart the development of greenhouse gas emission reduction schemes.
The moves anticipate stricter rules under the post-Kyoto Protocol for mandatory emission reduction targets after 2012, according to the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation (TGO).
The Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) is conducting a study on tax incentives that could attract interest in CDM ventures from the private sector, said TGO executive director Sirithan Pairoj-Boriboon.
The study will be submitted in three months to a national committee on emission reduction chaired by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva before going to the cabinet, tentatively in August.
“We are aiming to offer lower tax rates for revenue generated from sales of carbon credits. At present, developers of CDM projects are subject to the normal rate of corporate income tax at 30%,” Mr Sirithan said.
“This will bring Thailand on par with other Asean countries in promoting development of CDM. Malaysia, for example, has offered a two-year tax break for such projects.”
CDM is the mechanism that allows industrialised nations to buy carbon credits from projects in developing countries to meet their emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto by 2012.
The TGO has so far endorsed 57 CDM projects with a combined emission reduction of 3.7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year in the form of carbon credits. Of the total, only two projects are trading credits of about 400,000 tonnes due to the costly and lengthy processes of approval from the TGO and the United Nations.
Yasuhiro Shimizu, executive director Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO), said that even though CDM is basically a private-sector activity, government incentives would be “very helpful” to stimulate projects.
At present, the number of CDM projects in Thailand is very limited when compared to China and India. NEDO, the world’s biggest buyer of carbon credits, is helping the Thai private sector to develop CDM, he said.
Ratchada Singalavanija, the director-general of the Industrial Works Department, said the country should prepare for a review of the Kyoto Protocol, which is expected to strengthen global emission reduction efforts after 2012.
Taking effect in 2002, the protocol set binding targets for 37 industrialised nations and the European Union for cutting emissions.
“Stricter rules are expected to come out of the post-Kyoto protocol negotiations that could push Thailand to set emission reduction target,” Mr Ratchada said.
“If the country is unable to develop strong CDM activities locally, we might be forced to buy carbon credits from projects overseas in the near future.”
Mr Ratchada said his department was taking steps to help consolidate small-scale CDM projects to enhance their chances of financing. For example, 10 biogas projects on pig farms in the central region could potentially be consolidated.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Further to this article on possible tax incentives for the CDM in Thailand, readers may be interested to note that the South African National Treasury announced proposed tax incentives for CERs in South Africa, during the annual budget speech on 11 February 2009.
The proposed tax treatement is as follows:
- that income derived from the disposal of primary CERs be tax–exempt or subject to capital gains tax instead of normal income tax; and,
- secondary CERs be classified as trading stock, and taxed accordingly.
Leave a Comment