They have submitted letters to the UNFCCC and the Thai government ahead of COP29, calling them to review the current Paris Agreement and related rules and mechanisms they claimed as spurring “greenwashing” and shift to the principle of “ecological debt” to promote true climate justice, here and abroad
In the letter sent to the UNFCCC Executive Secretary, Simon Emmanuel Kervin Stiell, and PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the People Network for Climate Justice and Against Greenwashing, comprising leading environmental advocacy organisations including Greenpeace Thailand and EnLaw, stated that climate crisis and global boiling are exploitative legacies of over a century of colonialism and the Industrial Revolution, where wealthy nations and corporate elites relentlessly extracted fossil fuels to capture economic and political power, fueling deep social inequality and ecological devastation.
Thailand, they said, as a developing country in the Global South, has endured decades of modernization through the exploitation of natural resources and the oppression of local communities. Citing the global international disaster database, EM-DAT, jointly run by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and WHO, the group said Thailand ranks among the world’s most vulnerable nations to the impacts of climate crisis and loss of biodiversity. Between 2000 and 2022, Thailand faced 146 extreme weather events, resulting in 0.21 deaths per 100,000 people and US $7.72 billion in damages, approximately 0.82% of GDP, and these will be worsened as the temperature rises.
Thailand’s climate policies, including greenhouse gas reduction targets, carbon neutrality, and Net Zero commitments, however, empower the fossil fuel industry, agribusiness giants, and other destructive development ventures to greenwash their practices under the guise of “sustainable development” and “international cooperation”, the Paris Agreement included, the group claimed. These policies are anchored in the 2017 Constitution and the 20-year National Strategic Plan, functioning as instruments for the economic and political elite to entrench their power and preserve the status quo, the group said.
By exploiting carbon trading and ecosystem credit systems, these industries perpetuate unchecked greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, shielding themselves from accountability while communities bear the brunt of the crisis, the group pointed out.
“This is an outright assault on community rights, farmers’ rights, Indigenous people and ethnic rights, and fundamental human rights, all under the pretence of addressing global boiling_a violation perpetuated by the state, corporate power, and their exploitative systems,” said the group.
The group pointed out that a rights-based framework must be at the forefront of all climate action and achieving genuine climate justice in Thailand demands a radical break from outdated development paradigms that have prioritized profit over people and ecosystems.
It requires embracing the principle of “ecological debt”, a commitment to holding the world’s largest polluters accountable not only for today’s emissions but for a long history of social exploitation and ecological destruction woven through their global supply chains, the group further pointed out.
“This accountability cannot be superficial; it must include reparations for the widespread loss of land, the devastation of livelihoods, and the countless other harms inflicted by global boiling. Justice calls for these corporations and wealthy nations to bear the full cost of their impact, to restore what has been destroyed, and to support the healing and resilience of communities most affected.
“Without this transformative shift, climate justice will remain out of reach,” said the group.
Credit: Greenpeace Thailand/ Patipat Janthong
Thus, they have called policymakers to keep fossil fuels in the ground by supporting the proposal for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, led by 14 nations including Vanuatu, Tuvalu, and others.
The Paris Agreement negotiations should be scrapped as it is built on an outdated development paradigm dominated by the top 1%, who exploit their economic and political power, along with bilateral and multilateral mechanisms, the group said, claiming that it is solely to extract profit and accumulate wealth while maintaining the status quo. Related mechanisms for reducing greenhouse gas emissions imposed by wealthy nations, whether mandatory such as the Emission Trading System, or voluntary like the Voluntary Carbon Market, should also be scrapped as they serve only as tools to legitimize the violation of community rights.
In addition, climate finance must be grounded in the historical responsibility of wealthy nations for fueling the climate crisis, by repaying the “ecological debt” to developing and poor nations in the Global South. It must be a mandatory mechanism to compensate for the losses and damages caused, the group suggested.
At the same time, the role of multinational corporations that promote unsustainable production, consumption, and lifestyles, must be ended, and UNFCCC member states must be encouraged to create economic and social models that protect the fundamental rights to clean air, land, water, food, and healthy ecosystems.
Last but not least, they must oppose military actions, occupation, suppression, and the exploitation of land, water, oceans, people, cultures, and other living beings, especially in connection with fossil fuel, large-scale food meat, and mining industries.
The group has also called similarly on the Thai government, asking it to scarp and rewrite the Constitution as well as the national strategy and other major national plans and ambitions that rather promote greenwashing, plus climate-related acts. Some related mechanisms and roles of agencies including the Environment Ministry must be reviewed and revised to protect and promote the community’s rights.
Indie • in-depth online news agency
to “bridge the gap” and “connect the dots” with critical and constructive minds on development and environmental policies in Thailand and the Mekong region; to deliver meaningful messages and create the big picture critical to public understanding and decision-making, thus truly being the public’s critical voice