The ‘best before’ date of the green world is long gone. Plastic is judged by global citizens as the world’s worst disruptive element in environmental co-existence. However, it is plastic that propels the world forward and it is impossible to return to nature and rely on it alone to survive and prosper through the megatrends.
Whilst many large corporates around the world have been alarmed and taken actions to battle the climate change challenges, healing the world after all the damage has become virtually impossible. The world is immersed in tons of carbon emissions together with plastic waste while budgetary resources for supporting carbon neutral or environmental reformation are thin.
“Together To Net Zero”, the theme of the 2022 campaign by PTT Global Chemical PCL (GC) at the GC Circular Living Symposium was hosted, as on many previous occasions, with commitment to pursue low carbon emissions by reducing them by 20% within 2030 and reaching ‘Net Zero’ by 2050.
Since 2020, GC has been implemented Circular Economy through multidimensional efforts and projects to sustain GC’s Decarbonization Pathways comprising of initiatives of Efficiency-driven: to increase operational efficiency, reduce GHG emissions, and reduce waste, Portfolio-driven: to transform long-term business portfolio into a low-carbon business without compromising corporate growth and Compensation-driven: to apply nature-based and technology-based solutions to effectively support the implementation of acquiring the Net Zero goal.
“GC Circular Living Symposium 2022: Together to Net Zero” was presided over by H.E. Varawut Silpa-archa, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment. He said:
“Thailand is in the process of reviewing its 2nd Updated NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions), aiming to raise its carbon emissions reduction ambition to 40% by 2030, in which 30% of the increase will come from our domestic effort and 10% from international collaboration and support. The Royal Thai Government has integrated climate change into its national development agenda. Thailand is actively advancing the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economy model. The Government has initiated green financing instruments to drive investment in green innovations and green businesses to enable sustainable and environmentally friendly growth among our business community.”
According to Dr. Kongkrapan Intarajang, Chief Executive Officer and President of PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited, GC Circular Living Symposium 2022: Together To Net Zero serves as a platform for knowledge sharing, collaboration strengthening, and furthering ideas based on the circular economy and decarbonization.
Along with participating partners, visions contributed by CEOs led by Dr. Kongkrapan Intarajang, GC CEO, together with Victor Seah, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Nestlé Indochina; Abel Deng, CEO, Huawei Technologies (Thailand) Co., Ltd.; and Chadchart Sittipunt, Bangkok Governor, have been developing into tangible practices during the past few years.
By collaborating with these industrial leaders and all partners in the supply chains, GC’s has successfully implemented new technologies to reduce emission from the operating assets while continuously innovating new products solutions and re-shaping investment portfolio towards the Efficiency-driven and Portfolio-driven targets along the decarbonization journey. This is evidenced in new low carbon and eco packaging productions involving downgauging solutions, durable products, recycled plastics, and bioplastics that enable environmental-friendly solutions to waste management as well as a major investment in allnex, the world’s leader in coating resins and addivitives.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt’s “Planting 1 Million Trees” campaign has also been included in the agenda, aligning with one of the approaches under GC’s Compensation-driven framework whereby, over the past 9 years GC has continuously been working on restoration and reinforcement of forest ecosystem with government agencies, private sector and local communities for a total areas of 2,500 rais, which is equivalent to 32,807 tons CO2e of GHG sequestration annually or about planting 364,513 of trees.
The 2022 highlights, including the emerging global “Sustainable Finance” scheme, signals awareness of the need for decarbonization among large corporates contributing to climate change. Investment in ESG initiative (Environmental, Social, Governance) in the form of “Green Financing Bonds” has been launched to support organizations’ transition to the ranks of carbon neutral companies.
While taking the initiative with climate-related projects generates positive energy contributing environmental benefits, the processes involve risks and enormous costs, not to mention developing the technologies. In supporting the new debenture trend, major financial institutions in Thailand are establishing leasing programs for the new dimension of sustainable investment.
Accelerating achievement of the goal of carbon zero can be aided by public involvement from the smallest to the largest efforts carried out over the long term. The “Net Zero City” exhibition zone at the symposium, featuring integrated lifestyle, economy, and environment dimensions, envisions circular living in practice and inspires the public to join forces in battling climate change.
“Zero” is our goal and you can see how GC and all partners are putting it into practice together with symposium highlights, including talks on various topics, “Green Garden That You Can Eat Workshop”, “How Sustainability Action is Unlocking New Possibilities”, “Make Real Money While Saving the Earth: Get To Know Green Careers”, and much more, on the GC Facebook page or GC YouTube channel.
