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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XII, 2020

4. Mitigation should be possible, but monopolies and corporate
interests are a problem

The region has very high potential to contribute to reducing emissions.
In two most obvious ways: through forestation for carbon capture; and through
solar energy replacing fossil fuels.

The region used to be covered by forest and mangrove. Large areas could
be returned to forest. In tropical and semi-tropical environments, trees grow
quickly. But at present, the forests are still disappearing at a very rapid pace—for
the production of timber and paper, and for plantation crops like oil-palm,
rubber, coffee, and sugar. Big companies make profits, peasants make a living,
and governments achieve economic growth. The economic incentives are very
strong, and will remain pretty much constant until the last tree is felled.

Natural forests left untouched do not make much money for anybody (except
a little, through tourism).
This is a major problem. The solution proposed by Stern and others was

to introduce carbon trading, so rich countries would pay poor countries to
preserve and expand their forests areas. But it has proved impossible to
organize and police an effective market for carbon (Böhm and Pearse, 2014).
So the problem remains, and the forests continue to disappear.
Solar is a little easier. The situation has changed massively in the past
five years. Solar cells have become much cheaper. Storage systems are on the

way. Companies are making money out of the solar industry and so promote its
expansion. The remaining barrier is the companies and agencies involved in the
fossil-fuel economy: coal mines, oil companies, power generators that use fossil
fuels, makers of petroleum-fueled vehicles, and the governments that often
have ownership in power monopolies.

Take Thailand as an example. Electricity generation is overseen by a
very powerful government monopoly. It is moving into solar in interesting ways
(e.g., floating solar farms on reservoirs behind hydropower dams), but it wants
to protect its sunk investment in plants using fossil fuels. Even though Thailand
is ideal for solar power, the government’s target for renewables is only 30%
by 2036 (Ministry of Energy, 2017). The major European countries have achieved
that figure already, and expect to more than double it within the same time-frame.
And they have much less sun.

146 Climate Change and Inequality in Southeast Asia:
Review, Prospects, Priorities

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