According to the Bank’s website, the PDO is to scale up low-carbon investments in public assets in participating cities and agencies, and to operationalize a national mechanism for the crediting and monetization of verified emission reductions.

The project pilots a financial intermediary modality that enables PSOs, including municipalities such as Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and national entities such as Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand (IEAT), to finance clean energy upgrades in their assets through performance-based contracts. EXIM Bank will serve as a financial intermediary, and a national crediting program operated under KTB will generate, aggregate, verify, and monetize emission reductions from both public and private investments. The design responds to the fiscal, procurement, and regulatory constraints that currently prevent PSOs from adopting clean energy solutions and addresses the absence of a national institution capable of generating VERs at scale. Public asset upgrades supply the early volume of emission reductions needed to establish a credible market presence, while the carbon crediting mechanism provides the payment required to unlock a much larger private investment pipeline.

Component 1: Clean Energy Upgrades in Public Assets: This component finances eligible clean energy subprojects on public assets using standardized performance-based contracts that allow PSOs to implement clean energy investments without taking on debt or committing capital budgets.

Component 2: VER Payment Facility and National Carbon Crediting Mechanism: This component consists of two interconnected subcomponents: (a) the Verified Emission Reductions Payment Facility (VERPF), financed by IBRD funds transferred to KTB, which provides results-based payments to eligible private asset owners in exchange for VERs; and (b) the national carbon crediting mechanism, financed from counterpart resources and carbon market revenues (not IBRD funds), which generates, aggregates, verifies, and monetizes emission reductions at scale, operated by KTB on behalf of EXIM Bank.

The project’s overall Environmental and Social (E&S) risk is rated Moderate, reflecting its focus on small- to medium scale retrofit and installation works within existing public facilities and rights-of-way. Subprojects are expected to generate site-specific, temporary, reversible, and manageable impacts. Environmental risks are typical of urban infrastructure retrofits and include Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) risks for workers, temporary construction nuisances such as noise, dust, and traffic disruptions, and waste and e-waste generation from replaced equipment (e.g., lamps, HVAC units, solar panels, batteries). Cumulative or induced environmental impacts are expected to be minimal, as all works are confined to existing urban footprints. Social risks include temporary and localized disruptions to public facilities, minor impacts during installation activities related mainly to short-term disruptions to public facilities, noise, dust, or traffic, potentially impacting both project workers, and nearby community members. No land acquisition, involuntary resettlement, loss of livelihoods or restrictions on access related risks are anticipated as investment with such risks will be excluded. The beneficiary sites are in urban or peri-urban areas without the presence of Indigenous Peoples; therefore, no impacts on Indigenous communities are expected. Other anticipated risks include potential exclusion of women-led or women-managed SMEs access to project finance, and Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Sexual Harassment (SEA/SH) risks although expected to be low.

Total Project Cost: US$ 303.00 million
IBRD Commitment: US$ 200.00 million

The Export–Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM Thailand) is a state-owned bank headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand.

CONTACT POINT - World Bank

Task Team Leader: Marc S. Forni
Title: Lead Disaster Risk Management Specialist
Email: mforni@worldbank.org

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