Study puts spotlight on green finance

Fostering sustainable financing to help the country move towards net-zero carbon emissions and expanding digital assets are among the major roles the Thai capital market is to focus on over the next five years to enhance its competitiveness and support overall economic growth, a recent study revealed.

Thailand remains in the early stages of building a capital market to enable fully-fledged green finance. To continue its journey, several challenges remain, notably the limited availability of institutional funds earmarked for green investing for the time being, says a joint paper by the Thailand Capital Market Development Fund and McKinsey.

“To achieve Thailand’s net-zero ambition, there is an opportunity for capital markets to push the frontiers of green finance. This will require financing tailored to both the decarbonisation of existing technologies and the development of new green solutions,” said the study.

There is potential to establish green technology funds to apply to zero carbon innovation. Thailand also needs a carbon trading mechanism. This would enable companies to fulfil their emissions obligations through market mechanisms such as carbon credit exchange, it added.

In the area of digital assets, Thailand has already proven itself to be an early adopter of digital assets in the region. The granting of such licences, awarded since 2019, has led to the creation of digital platforms in the country.

The central bank, meanwhile, plans to launch…