Thailand Net Zero Emissions 2050: Analyses of Decarbonized Energy System Beyond the NDC

The energy sector in Thailand has shared most of the total country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for decades. This sector needs accelerating decarbonization targets to push the country's net emissions to a neutral level. Thailand's current energy system has not fully utilized renewable energy, energy efficiency enhancements, and electric vehicles to their full potential. Carbon capture and storage (CCS), as a great technology for capturing and storing carbon emissions, has not been integrated into fossil fuel-based power plants. Furthermore, hydrogen fuel has not yet reached a large-scale implementation level in the decarbonized energy system, despite being recognized as a promising choice for a zero-GHG emissions energy carrier. This article evaluates the combination of technology deployments to assess the possibility for Thailand to reach the climate target of net-zero emissions by 2050. The LEAP-NEMO analysis tool is used to implement the Reference, More Ambitious, and Net Zero Emissions 2050 (NZE) scenarios. In the NZE scenario in 2050, renewable energy accounts for 25% of final energy consumption and 71% of electricity production, while electric vehicles account for 80% of the total vehicle fleet in road transportation, whereas natural gas-based power plants equipped with CCS technology play an important role in decarbonized power generation.