Seminar on 'Prospects for Market-based Carbon Management in Indonesia and Thailand'

This research explored public and private sector engagement in the development of domestic Emissions Trading Schemes (ETS) in Indonesia and Thailand. It examined a range of government policies and programmes in progress or under negotiation that are intended to bolster carbon market development and potentially support a voluntary or mandatory ETS in the future. Using ETS as a framework, the study aimed to contribute to discussions about the prospects and challenges of creating and sustaining carbon markets in Indonesia and Thailand in the wake of post-Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) pessimism and general uncertainties about the future of the international carbon market. 

The seminar presented some observations from fieldwork in Indonesia and Thailand. An overview of current policies and programmes supporting carbon market development in these countries was given, along with excerpts from interviews with policymakers and professionals. The speaker also gave a preliminary assessment of the key factors affecting feasibility of scaling up ETS within Indonesia and Thailand, as well as their potential implications on the speculation of a regional ETS.

About the Speaker:

Shelly Hsieh is Post-graduate Research Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, where she focuses on exploring opportunities for transpacific collaboration in energy, clean technology and climate policy. Before returning to her hometown of Vancouver, Shelly spent several years living in Beijing, where she contributed to academic, non-governmental and international projects related to civil society and sustainable development in emerging economies.

Shelly was awarded a 2013-14 research fellowship under the IDRC’s ASEAN-Canada Research Partnership. Her research, to be discussed in this seminar, comes under the fellowship’s broader theme of Natural Resource Management for Sustainable Growth. The theme seeks to find means of improving systems for managing natural resources to allow sustainable economic growth and meet growing energy needs in the ASEAN region.

Shelly holds a Double Master’s Degree in International Relations and Sustainable Development from the Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) in France and Peking University in China, as well as a Bachelor’s Degree with Honours in Sociology from the University of Toronto.