Thailand Draft Climate Change Act 2025

The Thai cabinet approved the Draft Climate Change Act in principle on December 2, 2025 — the starting gun, not the finish line: years of parliamentary procedure stand between approval-in-principle and enactment. The draft centralises governance under the National Climate Change Policy Committee with a Climate Fund (ETS revenue, CBAM, credit fees, subsidies, penalties; assets not remitted to Treasury), a national GHG database with mandatory reporting, an NDC-aligned action plan, a mandatory ETS with registries and surrender, a CBAM for designated imports, a carbon tax on 31 goods categories via Excise/Customs, transferable carbon credits (domestic certified only), a green taxonomy, and administrative penalties with daily fines. For CCUS specifically there is still no dedicated law: the 1971 Petroleum Act covers EOR-adjacent activity but not long-term storage of non-petroleum CO2, and the Department of Mineral Fuels is considering amendments (carbon-business definitions, licensing, closure, liability transfer) inside a national framework targeting 38.8 Mt/yr abatement with feasibility by 2030 and deployment by 2040.