Abhisit to affirm Thailand's commitment in Copenhagen

Abhisit will attend the meeting, which will run from Wednesday until Friday, in his capacity as Asean chair.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti and permanent secretary Saksit Tridech will fly to the Danish capital on Sunday. A ministry task force is already there.

Today, Abhisit will meet with government officials to finalise what Thailand has to offer.

"Thailand will stand by the Asean agreement reached in Bangkok in November. But the emphasis of Thailand's proposal lies on political commitment and technology transfers on the part of developed countries," Saksit said.

"But we stand ready to change, as many countries are still submitting their proposals. Some, such as Japan, even want the Kyoto Protocol terminated."

The Asean Declaration, reached at the November meeting, which was part of the UN conference, asks for limiting any temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius and a maximum CO2 density of 450 parts per million, as well as unconditional technology transfers and mobilisation of funding from developed countries to reduce Third World greenhouse gas emissions.

"The prime minister has solicited opinions from other Asean leaders, and five or six have replied. There should be a political commitment in Copenhagen, and then a binding international agreement can be pursued at the Mexican meeting late next year," Saksit said, adding that Asean leaders would also hold a sideline meeting at Copenhagen.

A scientific forecast shows if the world's average temperature continues to rise by more than 2 degree Celsius over the next 90 years from preindustrial levels of 150-200 years ago, global sea level could rise as much as 6 metres.

Meanwhile, Abhisit will tell the world what Thailand is doing to help, with the focus on a 15-year master plan that uses nine types of alternative energy to replace 20 million tonnes of crude oil and reduce CO2 by 42 million tonnes by 2022.

"Thailand's position deals mainly with the country's potential for alternative-energy development. If a deal is sealed in Copenhagen, it can only push alternative energy at home into a new age and could spark investment in natural energy, such as solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal power," said Twarath Sutabutr, deputy director-general of the Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency Department.

He said the master plan was being revised to place a greater emphasise on natural energy, especially solar, wind and hydropower, which would accelerate the rate of greenhouse gas reduction. The revised plan should be ready this month.

Twarath is confident Thailand can achieve its target of boosting alternative energy consumption to 20 per cent of overall energy consumption by 2022 as planned, thanks to growing private participation and the government's push.

With unofficial talks under way on building a 90-megawatt solar power plant, authorities are upbeat about the Kingdom's prospects for becoming the regional leader in alternative-energy development. The solar farm would easily beat the present world's largest in Spain, which has a capacity of 60MW.

"If this landmark project is done here in Thailand, we'll be the leader in Asean. A giant solar farm would lead to other, smaller ones and more investment, thus helping us achieve our goal more quickly, thanks to economy of scale," said Twarath.