Photo 1 Participants of the ESCO-OBF Study and Green Public Procurement Consultation Workshop in Bangkok.
Bangkok, 28 October 2025 – The ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE) and Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) through the Asia Low-Carbon Buildings Transition (ALCBT) Project, hosted the ESCO Policy and Market Assessment and On-Bill Financing Readiness (OBF) Study and Green Public Procurement (GPP) Guidelines for Energy Efficient Cooling Study in Thailand.
The workshop attended by various stakeholders in Thailand, such as Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE) from government sector, Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) Association, financial institutions, and the development partners discussing the initial findings on Thailand’s ESCO market assessment, on-Bill finance readiness as well as the GPP guidelines developed to accelerate the energy efficiency implementation in Thailand’s building sector. There was a total of 37 participants, which comprised of 51% men and 48% women.
Photo 2 Opening Remarks from Pitcha Suthikul, Senior Professional Expert, Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE) Ministry of Energy, Thailand.
Pitcha Suthikul, Senior Professional Expert Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE), opened the session by welcoming all workshop participants, and reiterating Thailand’s strong commitment to advancing low carbon and energy-efficienct developments buildings sector. He underscores the country’s national targets of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and net zero greenhouse gas emission by 2065. Suthikul also acknowledge the challenges faced within the building sector while also emphasising the significant opportunities for energy-efficiency improvement and green innovation.
Photo 3 Opening Remarks from Julie Robles, Manager of the Asia Low Carbon Building Transition (ALCBT) Project Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) (top), and Naing Naing Linn, Manager of Energy Efficiency & Conservation Department, ACE (bottom)
Julie Robles, Manager of the Asia Low Carbon Building Transition (ALCBT) Project Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), recognise building low-carbon transition is priority in the 2030 strategy where GGGI is committed to support large scale adoption towards sustainable buildings. The ALCBT address regulatory, capacity and financing gaps that hinder large scale adoption to low carbon buildings, by enhancing technical and financial capacity of govt and private sector particularly from buildings space cooling activities driven by rapidly growing energy demand of the sector.
Government led market transformation is among the key where public procurement in ASEAN accounts 10% - 30% national GDP. Innovative financial mechanisms are needed to overcome the limited public budgeting due to competing priorities, budgetary ceiling and macroeconomic pressures. This is where ESCO and on-bill financing schemes come up among the options that the region and country can explore to look relieve public and private budgetary pressure when implementing sustainable buildings projects.
Naing Naing Linn, Head of Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) Department, ACE, emphasised the urgent innovative solutions to overcome financing barriers in addressing the building sector’s growing energy demand in ASEAN that is largely driven by space cooling needs. The Energy Service Company (ESCO) model was presented as a key mechanism to accelerate energy efficiency through performance-based contracts that reduce upfront costs and ensure measurable savings.
Green Public Procurement (GPP) was also underscored as a powerful policy tool for governments to lead by example and drive market innovation in energy-efficient technologies, particularly in air conditioning. Under the ALCBT project, supported by the ASEAN Centre for Energy, studies on ESCO Market Assessment, On-Bill Financing Readiness, and GPP Guidelines for Energy-Efficient Cooling are being developed to identify opportunities for scaling up these approaches in Southeast Asia, including Thailand. The initiative aligns with the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2026–2030, which prioritises efficient appliances, new financing mechanisms, and the transition toward Zero Energy Buildings.
Photo 4 Presentation on Thailand’s Latest Policy on Energy Efficiency Standards and Labelling and Energy Service Company (ESCO) Promotion by Ratchaphak Tantisanghirun. Engineer Practioner Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE), Ministry of Energy Thailand
Ratchaphak Tantisanghirun, provided a comprehensive overview of Thailand’s energy situation and taxonomy highlighting 6 priorities where construction and real estate identified as one of the major contributors to environmental impacts for sustainable transformation. Thailand is committed to ensure new assets/projects/activities must comply with green transition criteria which is aligned with the Paris Agreement pathway. This covers the construction of new buildings, renovation and acquisition of existing buildings, installation, maintenance and repairs of special-purpose equipment, as well as demolition and site preparation where they focus on operation emission. Thailand has enforced the Building Energy Code as well as the Building No.5 label to support this effort.
Photo 5 Scene Setting by Cahyo Adisaputro, Senior Officer Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) Department, ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE)
Cahyo Adisaputro, Senior Officer of EE&C Department, ACE, provided a comprehensive overview of ACE’s activities under the ALCBT project, particularly the ESCO Market Assessment, On-Bill Financing Readiness Study in ASEAN, including Thailand. He also highlighted the importance of space cooling and how green public procurement can transform the market towards more efficient cooling in the country. He explained that the studies aim to identify policy, market, and financing gaps to strengthen the enabling environment for energy efficiency investment and is being further refined through surveys and interviews with key stakeholders in Thailand, including ESCOs, financial institutions, and building owners while also integrating the developed green public procurement guidelines to be implemented in the country.
Photo 6 Presentation on Super ESCO – Case Study and Implementation Ashok Bonam, Senior Officer – Regional Project Coordination Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)
Ashok Bonam from the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) presented case studies implementation of Super ESCO works focusing on India and Saudi Arabia. Super ESCOs, typically established and backed by government or public entities, are designed to address financial and technical barriers in the energy efficiency market. They act as national-level enablers, providing both technical expertise and financial assurance to catalyse large-scale adoption of energy efficiency measures. In the examples shared, the Super ESCO model effectively leveraged its unique advantage of aggregating multiple smaller projects to achieve scale and deliver energy efficiency improvements. Initiatives highlighted included retrofitting older buildings, upgrading motors from IE3 to IE4, and replacing conventional street lighting with more energy-efficient alternatives.
Photo 7 Hadrian Vivek. ESCO Policy & Market Assessment and On-Bill Financing Readiness Study, The Carbon Trust
Hadrian acknowledged that Thailand’s policy environment has enabled foundational growth of the ESCO market, especially in industrial sectors whereas its growth in building sectors particularly public buildings is still constrained by financing design, regulatory gaps, and market awareness. He went on to share the results and key insights from the ESCO market assessment in Thailand, outlining the potential market size and proposing recommendations to further grow the ESCO market. His session was then followed by breakout discussions on policy recommendations and market acceleration strategies.
Photo 8 Breakout Session
Photo 9 Debby Giam, Key Findings from the On-Bill Financing (OBF) Readiness Study in Thailand, The Carbon Trust
After the lunch break, the workshop continued with a session on on-bill financing delivered by Debby Giam from the Carbon Trust. She explained how the scheme operates, the key actors involved, and shared case studies from the United States. The discussion explored how the concept could be adapted to Thailand’s context, recognizing the need for a more streamlined policy framework to enable pilot implementation. Debby highlighted enabling regulation, fundraising, collaboration among the stakeholders as the key strategic enables for OBF implementation in the country.
Photo 10 Sopin Wachirapuwadon, Presentation on Green Public Procurement (GPP) Criteria and Tools for Energy Efficient Cooling, International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC)
The workshop subsequently featured a technical presentation delivered by Sopin Wachirapuwadon from the International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC), who introduced the proposed National Green Public Procurement (GPP) Guidelines for Thailand. She outlined the recommended procurement criteria, which encompass high energy efficiency performance, use of low-GWP refrigerants, product durability and warranty provisions, noise level requirements, smart control functionalities, sustainable material considerations, and the application of life-cycle costing. The proposed assessment tool integrates mandatory compliance checks with a technical scoring mechanism to support informed purchasing decisions.
The adoption of these criteria within public procurement processes is expected to improve cost-effectiveness, reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and stimulate innovation in high-efficiency cooling technologies within the market. Key discussion points included the findings from the market assessment of best available technology (BAT) air conditioners in ASEAN, the GPP policy landscape in Thailand and across the region, and the draft national GPP guideline and evaluation tool.
Photo 11 Wrap up, next steps and way forward, Adam Adiwinata, Indonesia National Project Coordinator, ACE (top). Closing Remarks Pitcha Suthikul, Senior Professional Expert,Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency – DEDE (bottom)
Adam Adiwinata, National project coordinator ALCBT wrapped up, closed the workshop thanking the active participation from the audience providing valuable views on the findings. He emphasized the importance of the collaboration among all the related stakeholders to enhance the ESCO ecosystem in Thailand. Pitcha Suthikul closed the workshop by thanking the active participation from all the participants, especially to ACE, GGGI and partners. He reiterated that DEDE look forward to continuing work closely to achieve the target of ALCBT.
