Thailand – Refrigeration and Air Conditioning NAMA (RAC NAMA)

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC) accounts for approximately 20 per cent of total Thai greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Emissions from this sector are forecast to triple by 2030. They arise  from the use of refrigerants with high global warming potential (10 per cent) and from energy consumption (90 per cent).

Refrigerants are not currently subject to restrictions on global warming potential, and energy efficiency standards could be tightened.

The NAMA (National Appropriate Mitigation Action) Support Project covers four areas of activity: 

• production and sale of green refrigeration and air conditioning (GreenRAC) equipment;
• servicing and use;
• revisions to the policy and financial framework;
• raising awareness of benefits and the need for behavioural change.

The NAMA will transform the production and use of RAC appliances for both the domestic and commercial sectors.

Key stakeholders benefit from and support this reform: manufacturers will be able to produce technically advanced, sustainable and competitive products for the domestic and export markets. This will entail new jobs and training for technicians in the service sector, while consumers will receive lower energy and refrigerant bills.  Private sector manufacturers and large end-users are a key driving force behind the NAMA. The NAMA Support Project bundles and leverages existing financial mechanisms to promote energy-efficient RAC devices through the GreenRAC Innovation Fund (GRIF). GRIF provides seven times as much as the NAMA Support Project seed funding.

RAC equipment introduced within the project period will cut emissions by 19.4 million tonnes CO₂eq over the lifetime of the equipment. This will result in an annual reduction of around two million tonnes by 2020 – i.e. 0.6 per cent of the Thai total GHG compared to ‘business as usual’ (BAU 2020). The equivalent annual reduction by 2030 is 6.4 per cent or 46 million tonnes CO₂eq.