KYOTO -- Japan looks set to become the first country tonegotiate a joint project with Thailand to reduce emissions ofgreenhouse gases, Thai officials revealed here.
Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Organisation(Nedo) is discussing a programme with Thailand's Department of Energy Promotion and Development (DEPD) to improve energyefficiency in Thailand's steel furnaces, Suphavit Piamphongsant, chiefinspector general of the Ministry of Science, Technology andEnvironment, said.
A Thai steel producer, SISCO, is likely to serve as ademonstration plant for the project, which goes by the cumbersome name of ''Efficient Utilisation of Energy in Re-heating Furnaces inthe Steel Industry''.
However, negotiations are not yet finalised, as Nedo islooking to import its equipment tax-free. Suphavit said the lowest import tariff his ministry can authorise is five per cent.
''Making it tax-exempt would have to be a Cabinetdecision,'' Saksit Tridech, secretary-general of the Office of EnvironmentalPolicy and Planning, explained.
Saksit and Suphavit, along with other Thai environment officials, are in Japan to attend the third conference of parties (COP-3) tothe UN Framework Convention on Climate Change from Dec 1 to 10.
Under the treaty, developed countries can help developing countries to reduce their emission of greenhouse gases, but they currently are not allowed to receive official credit for these reductions.Such programmes are known as Activities Implemented Jointly, orAIJ.
The Thai-Japanese project, if it is finally agreed upon,would be the first AIJ project in Thailand. By making Thailand's industrymore efficient, it would be helping Thailand use less energy, and thus emit fewer greenhouse gases.
''Japan is pushing to get Thailand's first AIJ project,'' Suphavit said.
''We have approved our criteria for AIJ with different countries, but Japan wants to be the first. We may be able to sign an agreement by January.''
Other countries which have expressed interest in carrying out AIJ with Thailand include the US, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands. Canada reportedly has some natural resource rehabilitation projectsin mind, while the US -- in particular its Department of Energy -- is interested in demonstrating its green technology, Saksit said.
''While they will not receive any direct credit, there will be indirect credit,'' he noted. ''AIJ allows developed countries a chance to introduce their technology into Thailand.''
In essence, AIJ is evolving into a new kind of overseasdevelopment aid.
However, developed countries are eager to see it evolve intomuch more. They hope to receive direct credit for the reductionof greenhouse gas emissions once the programme's pilot phase isover by the end of the year 2000, if not sooner. AIJ with credits is known, rather confusingly, as Joint Implementation (JI), and it remains somewhat controversial. In theory, a whole range of projects that could be damaging to the local environment of developing countries -- including monoculture tree plantations, hydro-electric dams and even nuclear power plants -- could be promotedunder JI.
Suphavit doubts that any JI project would incorporatenuclear power.
''That would be too big and expensive, they have much smaller projects in mind for JI,'' he said.
But Gurmit Singh, a Malaysian environmentalist, warned thateven AIJ could ''put developing countries into the debt of developed countries''.
The G-77 group of developing countries has adopted a position that JI should not be implemented until the pilot phase is over inthe year 2000, but Singh said some countries are beginning to weaken.
''We should only talk about JI once there is a firm protocol[with binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions for developed countries],'' Singh said.
''Most reductions should be done within countries anyway. There is even some evidence that this is a more cost-effective way.''