Introduction

This Factsheet outlines the current progress in advancing Sustainable Public Procurement (SusPP) in Thailand, based on a desk review. The review applies an analytical framework of six Pillars (or "building blocks") of SusPP systems.

The Framework is designed to make clear that countries do not need to follow a linear step-by-step path to build effective GPP systems. Rather it is important to examine local contexts and prioritize the Pillars with the most potential in the country. No matter where a country starts, a balanced approach to implementation calls for progress on all Pillars to some degree.

This Factsheet is organized as follows:

• "Country Overview" section with executive summary, indicative maturity rating, key achievements, potential pathways forward and timeline of key events related to advancing sustainable public procurement.
  
• "State of Play & Forward Looking Analysis" section that summarizes the research findings from the desk review for each Pillar theme.
  
• "Key Stakeholders Driving the Agenda" explores opportunities for ADB teams to open discussions with country counterparts and add value to the work of partners.
  

The Factsheet is intended to be a living document that will be revised and improved as new information is uncovered and advances are made. It is designed to support the ADB training programs on SusPP.

If you have new information, please contact ychu@adb.org.

>> Snapshot of Sustainable Procurement Maturity Level

Maturity Level:

Advanced Stage

Key Achievements

• High level vision to be a regional leader on sustainable consumption and production
  
• Longstanding experience with implementing ecolabel-based GPP since 2005
  
• Clear legal basis for GPP in procurement law and various policy documents
  
• Preference for domestic SMEs allowed and high SME participation in procurements
  
• Existence of ecolabels since 1993 and green building code since 2020
  

Work underway

• GPP training program supported by GIZ
  

Potential pathways forward

• Need to apply more environmental criteria in building and construction projects
  
• Opportunities to further improve and expand GPP monitoring system and reporting
  

>> Timeline of Implementation of Sustainable Procurement Activities

1993

2005

2008

2012

2017

2020

2022

Thai Green Label initiated

GPP criteria developed for 14 products and 3 services of common use

Green Cart ecolabel launched for public procurements

1st Green Public Procurement Promotion Plan 2008-2011 for Central Government

2nd Green Public Procurement Promotion Plan 2013-2016 expanded to all government units and private sector

3rd Green Public Procurement Promotion Plan 2017-2021 expanded to Thai society wide

Updated Public Procurement law specifically promotes green and social procurement

Green Building Code adopted with implementing regulations enacted in 2021

Procurement regulations require 30% procurements to be allocated to local SMEs

Thai Green Directory launched as central online hub to purchase green goods and services

Pillar 1: Government Vision & Awareness of SusPP

Governments that establish a clear policy vision on SusPP can accelerate the shift from procurement as an administrative to strategic function, making clear how SusPP can deliver on important national social and environmental goals.

Green Procurement since 2005

Thailand has established a vision that “The Government sector should be leaders in green procurement. In order to create proper market of products and services that are environmental friendly.” - pronounced in multiple policy documents including 20 Year National Strategy, 10th-13th National Economic and Social Development Plans, Environmental Quality Management Plan and Pollution Control Plan. The concept aligns with H.M. King Phumibol Adulyadej’s “Sufficiency Economy Philosophy”, the central vision for the country’s development pathway towards green growth.

The Government began researching the feasibility of introducing green criteria into procurements in 2005. The 1st Green Public Procurement Promotion Plan 2008-2011 began with a limited scope, focusing on promoting green purchasing within the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Central Government agencies only. The first set of priority spend categories for GPP were: toner, printing paper, cover paper, file, envelope, document box, correction pen, fluorescent light bulbs, paint for buildings, photocopier machine, steel furniture, tissue paper, whiteboard pen, battery, printer for products, and photocopier rental service, cleaning service and accommodation services (hotels). An official government website was launched with tender documents for GPP and a listing of manufacturers and products with the Green Cart ecolabel (based on the Thai Green Label).

Over the years, the GPP Promotion Plan was expanded in its second (2013) and third phases (2017) to promote green purchasing more broadly, to all other governmental units at national and local levels, universities, the private sector and the general public. Vehicles, petrol and lubricant were added to the priority products list and petrol stations and car maintenance were added to the service list. Additional ecolabels were recognized, including the Green Industry Mark, CoolMode (textiles) and Green Leaf (hotels). The 3rd GPP Promotion Plan made green purchasing mandatory for seven product categories: printing paper, tissue paper, photocopier, toner, printer and cleaning services.

A National Roadmap for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) 2017 set a vision of “Thailand is the leader of ASEAN on Sustainable Consumption and Production adopting the Sufficiency Economy concept and mobilising through integration of social innovation by 2036,” Ecolabelling and sustainable procurement are seen as key implementation tools to achieve the nation’s ambitious SCP goals. Aligned with this vision, Thailand has become a regional champion for GPP, sharing its experience with GPP to support progress in Lao PDR, Cambodia and Bhutan with GIZ support.

The adoption of sustainable consumption and production (SCP) practices, including GPP, has been seen as a society-wide responsibility in Thailand. The Government has created various communication and marketing tools to raise awareness of green products and services available in the market. The Thai Green Directory is a national database that allows any consumer in Thailand to find environmentally friendly products and services.

Pillar 2: Legal & Regulatory Framework

Procurement law reform can be key to clear obstacles to implementation by establishing "value for money", not "lowest price", as a core procurement objective, and authorizing procurement approaches suited to SusPP.

Public procurements in Thailand are regulated by the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act 2017, an Act that specifically promotes green and social procurement. Procurements must obtain optimal benefits to the State agency conforming to the principles of value for money, efficiency and effectiveness, and accountability. Section 65 allows procurers to consider non-price criteria, including life-cycle costs and suppliers promoted by the States, which include those “creating innovation” or “conserving energy or the environment.”

In terms of social procurement, the Office of SME Promotion analysed government purchasing data in 2013 and found that SMEs are very active in public procurement. In terms of the number of vendors, SMEs account for 95%, and in terms of buying value, they account for 84%. Therefore, SME promotion in procurement was not considered a significant national need. However, efforts have continued to be made. The 4th SME Promotion Plan 2017-21 proposed the development of a strategy that addresses the importance of improving public procurement to support SME participation.

In 2020 during the COVID pandemic, the Ministry of FInance enacted new regulations on government procurement stipulating that state agencies must allocated at least 30% of their procurement budgets to purchase specified products and services from SMEs and prioritise sourcing from SMEs located in the same province. Bids received from SMEs can propose prices up to 10% higher than the asking price. Interested bidders can register on the website of the Office of SMEs Promotion (OSMEP).

Pillar 3: Institutions & Capacity

Public Procurement Bodies

The Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Policy Commission is a multistakeholder group mandated to guide public procurement policies and oversee procurement activities. The Commission is led by the Minister of Finance with participation from representatives from:

• State agencies including the Permanent Secretary for the Office of the Prime Minister, Permanent Secretary for Finance, Permanent Secretary for Digital Economy and Society, Secretary-General of the Council of State, Director of the Bureau of the Budget, Attorney-General;
  
• The private sector including the Council of Engineers, the Architects’ Council of Thailand, the Board of Trade of Thailand, the Federation of the Thai Industries and other relevant experts;
  
• Director-General of the Comptroller-General’s Department shall be a member and secretary and two officials of the Comptroller-General’s Department as assistant secretaries.
  

Agencies responsible for GPP promotion

The Pollution Control Department (PCD) within Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has been assigned to implement GPP Promotion Plans with relevant ministries and stakeholders e.g. Thai Environment Institute (TEI), National Science and Technology, Development Agency (NSTDA), private sector. An interagency committee on GPP has been created to promote GPP across the government. Technical subcommittees work to develop and update GPP criteria to support implementation.

GPP Training

The Pollution Control Department organizes training workshops for procurement staff within the government 3 times per year. Procurers can easily access information through the Green Public Procurement Handbook, life-cycle costing and environmental costing tool, and a platform for reporting. Since 2009, a green public procurement “Recognition Award” has been given to best performing agencies based on the results submitted to the Pollution Control Department.

Pillar 4: Market Practices

Market dialogue throughout the procurement process helps procuring entities to choose realistic sustainability criteria and ensure suppliers succeed in delivering on sustainability commitments over the contract duration.

Green Suppliers

To access public procurement contracts, suppliers in Thailand are invited to qualify for recognized ecolabels or register on government procurement websites. There are two major platforms for green products in Thailand"

• ‘Green Basket’, managed by the PCD, that lists suppliers in 40 product categories to simplify green purchasing for government agencies.
  
• ‘Thai Eco-Products Directory’, operated by the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), was launched in 2022 to act as the central hub for green products and services available in Thailand. The Directory compiles data from 18 different Thai ecolabels in 13 product and service categories.
  

Eco-Innovation Forums have also been hosted offering an opportunity for buyers and suppliers of green products and services to meet face to face.

Green Building

The Thai Green Building Institute launched TREES (Thai's Rating of Energy and Environmental Sustainability) as a rating system to guide the construction industry towards environmentally friendly design and construction. The TREES rating has eight (8) assessment sections and four (4) award levels.

Industry Groups & Business Associations

The Thai Government considers the private sector a key partner in achieving its sustainable production goals.

The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) aims to move all plants and factories in the country to environmentally friendly industrial estates by 2024. The FTI has signed an MOU to collaborate with various government ministries, departments and provincial authorities on this goal. Over 380 companies have shown interest in “going green” and the FYI expects that all 14,000 FTI members nationwide to become part of the effort by 2024.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) actively coordinates private sector interest in adopting green procurement, especially amongst listed companies. Several listed companies have joined green projects initiated by the government or the Stock Exchange of Thailand, such as “Green Industry Mark” (by the Ministry of Industry), “G-Mark Certification” (by the Department of Environmental Promotion), and “Care the Bear/Care the Whale/Care the Wild projects” (by the Stock Exchange of Thailand). The Government launched a draft Green Integration Policy in 2021 to further its efforts to encourage publicly listed companies in the Thai Stock Exchange to adopt green procurement practices.

Pillar 5: Procurement Operations

Various tools and procurement approaches can be employed to help procurers more easily identify environmentally friendly goods and services and attract a competitive market response.

Ecolabels

Green public procurement in Thailand is made simple by allowing procurers to choose from listings of verified green vendors. Ecolabels have a longstanding basis in the country. The Thailand Business Council for Sustainable Development (TBCSD) initiated the Thai Green Label, a Type I ecolabel scheme, in October 1993. When the Government of Thailand started actively promoting GPP in 2005, the “Green Cart” was developed as a list for green public procurement products covering 17 products and 5 service categories. The Green Cart is both a catalogue and a set of criteria based on the Thai Green Label (for products) and the Green Leaf (for hotels). By 2018, the coverage of the Green Cart was expanded to 22 product and 6 service categories. Each procuring agency can check whether procuring products satisfy the Green Cart criteria. These criteria are usually set as mandatory requirements and award decisions are mainly based on the lowest cost.

The Thailand Business Council for Sustainable Development (TBCSD) and Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) manage several ecolabels in the country:

• Green Label for products and services based on a life-cycle assessment
  
• Carbon reduction labels granted to products or services with low-emission production processes or building with low-carbon emission operations
  
• Green Industry Mark for the manufacturing sector based on the concept of Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and Cleaner Technology
  

• Green Leaf as a standard of environmental management systems for hotels based on existence of a green policy, green product procurement, energy management, and local participation in environmental conservation activities at the area of hotel’s location
  
• Private sector self-claimed ecolabels in the building materials sector, such as such as SCG eco value and Green heart developed by the Siam City Cement Public Company Limited in 2017.
  
• Coolmode granted textile companies for use of fibre technology to provide the textile structure to be cool, comfortable and easy to clean
  

Suppliers can either choose to obtain the ecolabel or submit their documents for review by the PCD. The PCD will list all verified products and services on the GPP website at http://thaigpp.info/.

Green Building Code

The Government established a Green Building Code in 2020. It requires energy-efficient design for all buildings of 2,000 square meters or more. In 2021, energy performance standards and technical standards were prescribed for various types of buildings. The energy performance standard covers the building envelope, lighting, air conditioning and water heating equipment.

Pillar 6: Monitoring & Impact Measurement

Monitoring systems are essential to gather the information needed to keep SusPP implementation on course and communicate on the benefits achieved for the country.

Monitoring has been a key priority throughout the country’s implementation of GPP. Since 2009, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) has managed a voluntary monitoring system to assess the progress of GPP adoption.

Each agency is requested to submit data through an online reporting system every six months to the PCD, focusing on two indicators: number of implementing agencies and number of purchases of green products and services for a list of designated product groups. The PCD submits an annual summary report to the Cabinet, which is then posted on the GPP website. The PCD works with the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) to estimate the sustainability benefits of buying green products and the contribution of available Green Products in the market.

From 2008 to 2011, the number of participating government agencies increased from 25 to 100. Green products and services purchased increased from 25 to 60 (mainly toilet paper, correction liquids, primary batteries, paper, lightbulbs). As of 2016, 1,032 organisations were implementing GPP: 170 governmental organisations, 46 state enterprises, 32 public organisations, 69 universities, 710 local administrative organisations, and 7 government organisations. In total, 8.3 million USD of green products and services had been purchased, achieving a reduction of 38,446 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

Projects Supported by ADB

As a climate bank, the ADB designs projects to add value in terms of supporting Thailand's climate change objectives. A "One-ADB-Green-Blue Initiative" support upstream green project preparation focused on subsovereign entities.

Existing "green" projects supported by the ADB in Thailand include:

• Strengthening the country's capacity in executing its bio-circular-green (BCG) model through policy dialogue, capacity building and investment planning; and
  
• Supporting access to private green sources of capital by scaling up the issuance of thematic bonds or Green-Social-Sustainable-Blue bonds.

The ADB is supporting several infrastructure projects within which green criteria can be integrated in project procurements. These projects include the Greater Mekong Subregion highway projects, medical excellence centers, and climate-resilient connectivity projects.

Other Initiatives supported by National/International Agencies

GIZ has supported GPP in Thailand since 2012 focusing on developing green labeling criteria. GIZ Scaling SCP Thailand aspires to link its Thai Green Label to its new ambitious Bio-Circular and Green Economic Development Strategy.

The project ‘Development of Vendor List Registration System’ was elaborated in cooperation among the PCD, the FTI and the EU SWITCH-Asia SCP Facility, supported by the EU. The project aims to support Thailand’s green procurement implementation by developing a tool that provides information on vendors selling environmentally friendly certified products and services available in the market, and it integrates into the National Green Directory to facilitate buyers and provide a recommendation and action plan for sustainability of the vendor registration system and National Green Directory.

Resources

ADB, 2022. ADB and Thailand: Fact Sheet.

Government of Thailand, 2017. 20-Year National Strategy (2017-2036).

EU Switch Asia, 2022. Development of the Vendor List Registration System for the Thai Green Directory.

UNEP, 2017. Comparative Analysis of Green Public Procurement and Ecolabelling Programmes in China, Japan, Thailand and the Republic of Korea: Lessons Learned and Common Success Factors.

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