Thailand, just like much of the world seems to be in a PR race with other countries to prove that they are super concerned about the environment. While I applaud this sort of movement it is difficult for me to actually believe that the people involved in this sort of things actually care about the environment at all or if they are trying to curry favor with the international community or even working in lockstep with the government in order to secure tax breaks or even tax money in order to achieve these "goals."
The news was released a few days ago that Thailand's airports are aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030, whatever that means, and they aim to be "zero emissions" by 2032. They are planning on doing this by introducing electric cars to the entire fleet of cars at the airport, one or two of which I have ridden in a few times already. They are fine, comfortable, fast, and I like them. There's just one problem though.
The vast majority of Thailand's energy production comes from burning natural gas and coal. So while this idea of having clean air is nice and all, it doesn't seem to me like this is going to change a great deal as far as overall pollution is concerned and then we also have the small problem of the batteries in the E-vehicles, how it contains one of the rarest substances on earth, and how the technology hasn't really been around long enough for us to know what things are going to look like in 10-20 years. I do know that I have read some horror stories about how people go to get their car battery worked on only to discover that it is cheaper for them to purchase a new car than it is to replace the batteries in their E-vehicle.
Something kind of strange happened in this country in the past decade and I only became aware of it when speaking about this lofty goal of Thailand's airports the other day with a friend. He has been here for 20 years and when he went to go install solar panels on his own home back in the early 2010's, he was alarmed to find out that it was actually AGAINST the law for him to do so.
There was no reason given but there was speculation that the electric companies, which are all state-run in Thailand, didn't want people to be able to produce their own electricity because it would cut into their profits. It wasn't until 2016 that having your own solar panels was even legal - which is just strange doncha think?
Thailand does make some efforts towards going green but mostly it is hard to believe that the government actually gives a rip about the environment and are only doing this so that some politicians can get their faces in the news and progress their own careers.
I say this as a resident of Chiang Mai in the north, which over the years has become the most polluted city in the world. The government is very aware of what is causing this to be the case and every year they promise to do something about it but they never do. Now maybe it sounds like I am just grand-standing here, but the pollution in Chiang Mai and the surrounding areas really is absolutely awful for 2 months a year. There are many people that have pre-existing respiratory problems and they actually have to leave the city for those 2 months because not doing so is extremely bad for their health and could even prove fatal. The poor of this area don't have the resources to purchase air filtration devices and simply breath in the horrible funk air during these 2 months every single year. We won't know about it for a long time, but there is good reason to believe that this constant breathing of horrible air for 60 days straight every year is going to lead to an epidemic in the future where millions of people have chronic respiratory problems because the government has done nothing to stop this from happening.
I guess it just becomes a little difficult for me to believe that the government is at all interested in protecting the environment or "going green" when we have this very massive problem that affects all the millions of people that live up here, not just the people near the airports.
I wouldn't count on this green initiative actually happening at the airports in Thailand. I believe this is a plot to get some free money or international acclaim (perhaps intl money) and then these promises will be swept under the rug and forgotten about long after 2030 has come and gone.
Forgive my cynicism.