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Thailand’s industrial decarbonisation: Turning challenges into regional opportunities
Dr. Pramote Puengjinda
Thailand has set ambitious climate goals: carbon neutrality by 2050 and net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2065. These targets, announced at COP26 and reaffirmed in national strategies, position Thailand firmly in the global climate agenda.
To provide a legal backbone for this transition, the country is advancing its first Climate Change Act, which will serve as a framework for long-term climate governance, carbon management, and technology promotion. Importantly, the act explicitly recognises “hydrogen and its derivatives” as key technologies for industrial decarbonisation.
This is crucial given Thailand’s reliance on “hard-to-abate industries” such as cement, steel, petrochemicals, and refining. These sectors consume vast amounts of fossil fuels and generate process-related emissions that cannot be avoided by efficiency improvements or electrification alone. Without new technologies, they risk being locked into a high-carbon trajectory, jeopardising national climate commitments.
By embedding technology roadmaps and policy instruments into law, Thailand creates a clear signal for industries to invest in cleaner pathways. Hydrogen, particularly green hydrogen, is identified as a central enablers alongside renewable energy, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), and circular economy practices. This recognition lays the groundwork way for integrating hydrogen into industrial strategy, energy planning, and market design.
GREEN HYDROGEN AND POWER-TO-X (PTX): THE CATALYSTS FOR CHANGE
While renewable electricity is expanding rapidly, it cannot replace fossil fuels in every application. Many industrial processes such as cement kilns and steel furnaces, require high-temperature heat or fossil-based feedstocks, making direct electrification impractical. Green hydrogen, produced from renewable electricity via electrolysis, offers a transformative alternative.
Through PtX technologies, hydrogen can be converted into a portfolio of low-carbon derivatives that serve multiple sectors:
• Green methanol: A sustainable feedstock for chemicals and a low-carbon shipping fuel, where demand is growing rapidly as international shipping lines move toward decarbonisation.
• Green ammonia: A hydrogen carrier for international trade, and a potential marine fuel.
• Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF): One of the few scalable options for reducing aviation lifecycle emissions.
For Thailand, deploying these products is not only about cutting emissions, it also enhances energy security, reduces dependence on imported fossil fuels, and opens new export markets across Asia. By incorporating hydrogen and PtX into national climate planning, the Climate Change Act sends a strong policy signal to investors, and partners that Thailand is committed to building this new value chain.
No industry illustrates the decarbonisation challenge more clearly than cement. Concentrated in Saraburi province, it is vital for domestic infrastructure and exports, yet accounts for around 15% of the industrial emissions.
Two potential strategies are proposed:
1. Hydrogen substitution: Replacing coal in cement kilns, which require temperatures above 1400°C. Such highheat applications are difficult to electrify, but hydrogen offers a feasible pathway. Pilot discussions are already exploring hydrogen blending into cement kilns.
2. CCUS integration: Even with fuel substitution, limestone calcination releases unavoidable CO₂. Capturing this CO₂ and converting it into PtX products such as green methanol creates synergy: emissions are reduced while producing a valuable low-carbon fuel and chemical feedstock. This could link cement directly to Thailand’s green markets, transforming a liability into a resource.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION: ACCELERATING THE TRANSITION
International cooperation is essential, and the International Hydrogen Ramp-up Programme (H2Uppp), commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), is one of the most impactful initiatives. H2Uppp supports earlystage hydrogen and PtX market development in Thailand and Southeast Asia through policy support, technical expertise, and private-sector engagement. The programme conducts market studies on green hydrogen, green ammonia, and PtX opportunities helping policymakers and industries identify viable pathways. These studies serve as roadmaps for investment and technology adoption.
A cornerstone of the programme is its support for collaborative initiative projects. For example, H2Uppp facilitates partnerships with PTT Public Company Ltd. and thyssenkrupp (Uhde) Thailand to explore green methanol and green methane production. Such initiatives demonstrate technological feasibility and create anchor projects to catalyse Thailand’s hydrogen economy. With an established industrial base, abundant biomass resources, and strong international partnerships, Thailand is well-positioned to become a regional hub for hydrogen and green products. Success at home could therefore catalyse a wider transformation across ASEAN, helping the region move collectively toward its climate and energy goals.
The value of H2Uppp lies not only in technical cooperation, but also in fostering credibility for Thailand’s hydrogen ambitions. By partnering with Germany, a global leader in hydrogen innovation and industrial decarbonisation, Thailand gains access to proven technology pathways, global best practices in safety and certification, and sustainability standards such as the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED III). This strengthens the foundation for accelerating decarbonisation and creating a future-ready economy.
“ By adopting hydrogen, capturing CO₂, and producing green methanol, SAF, and ammonia, Thailand can create new industries […]”
The road to industrial decarbonisation in Thailand is long, but filled with opportunity. Hydrogen, PtX technologies, and CCUS offer credible solutions for reducing emissions in cement, steel, and petrochemicals. International cooperation, especially with Germany through H2Uppp, are building the expertise, partnerships, and business cases needed to move forward.
What makes this journey compelling is that it goes beyond emissions reduction. By adopting hydrogen, capturing CO₂, and producing green methanol, SAF, and ammonia, Thailand can create new industries, strengthen energy security, and establish itself as a clean energy leader in Southeast Asia.
In this vision, the cement kilns of Saraburi, or the petrochemical facility of Songkhla, are not obstacles, but starting points for a new chapter – where Thailand’s process industries become pioneers of a low-carbon future.
Contact details:
Dr. Pramote Puengjinda
Senior Advisor, International Hydrogen Ramp-up Programme
GIZ Thailand
+66 2 661 9273 #153
https://www.thai-german-cooperation.info/en_US/international-hydrogen-ramp-upprogramme-h2-uppp/
