Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa recently raised concern about the impact of Covid-19 on the environment and natural resources at a virtual meeting with AMCHAM members. The meeting was held as part of the 2022 AMCHAM Annual General Meeting.
AMCHAM President, Jeff Nygaard of Seagate, welcomed the Minister and expressed appreciation for the opportunity to learn about the government’s strategies to achieve its goals on environmental protection and greenhouse gas reduction, as well as ideas on public-private collaborations to achieve the shared goal of sustainable economic growth.
During the meeting, the minister recognised the strong economic relationship between Thailand and the US over the years. He further spoke about the impact of Covid-19 on the environment and natural resources, shared priorities on how the Royal Thai Government plans to build back greener and better in the post Covid-19 era, and the role of the private sector in integrating environmental protection priorities in their business plans for sustainable recovery.
Mr Varawut provided in-depth information on major principles such as “the sufficiency economy” and the five dimensions of the “Bio-Circular-Green” economic model or “BCG”, in particular, the key role of the 4R concept in reducing plastic waste pollution and the country’s vision to move towards sustainable plastic management through the concept of circular economy.
In addition, the minister presented information on legislation frameworks that are being put in place to tackle climate change; stakeholders’ participation at all levels through public-private partnership; innovation and technology development; and climate finance.
Before concluding his remarks, Mr Varawut emphasised that it is critical for the businesses to turn their strengths and ambitions in doing good business for concrete actions on environment and welcomed opinions and collaborations from the private sector to address climate change.
