Investing in a greener world

AT the end of July, PTT Public Company Ltd issued a 15 billion Thai baht (S$647 million) green bond certified by Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), a not-for-profit international organisation for climate change solutions, against its forestry criteria in the Thai domestic market.

The Thai oil and gas conglomerate has been running a reforestation project on one million rai - equivalent to 1.6 million hectares (Mha) of land - since 1994 for evergreen forests on mountains in the north, and on lower plains in the Central and Eastern Regions of Thailand. This green bond issued under PTT's Green Bond Framework will finance the preservation and conservation of forests in Thailand.

There is significant potential for similar projects in the region. About half of the world's tropical peatlands (about 25 million ha) are in South-east Asia. In the past, these pristine intact peatlands supported the livelihoods of small numbers of indigenous people through fisheries, hunting and the provision of non-timber forest products.