Strengthening Thailand’s Bio-Circular-Green Economy

Thailand

The proposed technical assistance (TA) aims to support the implementation of Government of Thailand development strategy 2023-2027, with focus on identification of investment opportunities and development of a pipeline of investment projects in BCG strategic sectors. This TA will strengthen the capacity of the Government of Thailand to integrate its new Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economy model into national development strategies. The proposed TA will provide a platform of agile support to help strengthen the foundation for growth in key BCG sectors through institutional capacity building, policy dialogue, and investment planning. Activities will include (i) awareness raising of BCG through organization of roundtables, seminars, and workshops; (ii) strengthening policy and regulatory frameworks supporting BCG; and (iii) developing concepts to support BCG to mobilize green finance from financing sources such as commercial banks, private investments, and/or capital markets. The lessons and experiences will be shared regionally. The TA will be aligned with the following impact: Capacity of the Government of Thailand is strengthened to integrate the new Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economy model into national development strategies. The TA will have the following outcome: Government institutions and private sector are better enabled to execute BCG programs and projects. The TA outputs will be achieved through a collaborative process of conceptualizing investable activities that address constraints for BCG development with gender-equality approaches. (i) Output 1: Priority bio-circular-green sectors, regions, and entities for TA identified. Given the large number of BCG sectors and activities identified by the government, the TA will aim to prioritize sectors and/or themes for greatest possible impact, including identifying BCG targets such as mobilizing capital and climate resilience indicators. Key activities to achieve this output will include consultation with national and local governments; financial authorities such as the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Security Exchange Commission, and Bank of Thailand; and the private sector including women’s organizations and women-led micro and SMEs. Consultation with development partners will provide international perspectives. (ii) Output 2: Institutional capacity building and knowledge sharing increased. This output will provide institutional capacity building and knowledge awareness raising activities for the TA’s selected sectors and related entities. Specific frameworks, policies, good practice notes will be developed as needed to help guide the target public and private sector organizations to develop at least 8 preliminary project concepts. The selection process will include a gender-balanced advisory panel of key government agencies responsible for BCG, innovation, and finance to assess the technical and financial merits of each potential project concept. Selection criteria will include the potential to employ value-added knowledge and innovative financial models and potential to support women and girls. Knowledge products will be produced with a focus on gender elements and circular economy. The TA will support the sharing of knowledge through regional fora and strategic collaborations with other development partners and international organizations. (iii) Output 3: Investment planning initiated at the concept level. The TA team will work closely with relevant government agencies and private finance organizations to develop investment plans for at least 6 of the shortlisted project concepts prepared in output 2. The plans will include technical and innovative finance approaches that maximize mobilization of private capital.