Eco-Efficiency - Thai-German Programme for Enterprise Competitiveness

Competitive by Eco-Efficiency!

What is eco-efficiency? The Thai context of sustainability.

Eco-Efficiency focuses on sustainable business development, on efficient use of resources, and on the minimization of negative environmental impacts. The key measures deal with resource management practices, energy efficiency, waste management, processing technologies, logistics, market conditions and policy development. The eco-efficiency concept is gaining importance for the overarching idea of a "sufficiency economy" and a "sustainable Thailand". Its positive economic and ecologic results draw more and more attention to the Royal Government's policies and legislative framework, as well as within many enterprises and business associations. At the same time, concern over the ecological development is growing, and Thailand is experiencing an increase in environmental stress. Modernizing the Thai industry: a matter of eco-efficiency.

Eco-Efficiency counts!

Three fields of impacts are to be regarded as economic factors of a sustainable business:

Environmental impacts
By curbing energy and material consumption, wastes and emissions, pressures upon the natural environment are reduced. Companies make products of higher environmental quality, and exercise greater environmental responsibility

Resource-efficiency impacts
Efficient energy and resource use improves competitiveness and cuts costs. Disposal costs are minimised, while production processes, product design and organisational procedures are optimised.

Social impacts
Workplace health and safety are improved. Corporate social responsibility is enhanced, as is interaction between companies and local communities. Continuous staff training and participation encourage optimisation and innovation, while raising productivity.

Eco-efficiency approach

Eco-efficiency consultancy is targeting at four areas:

Cost reduction as motivating factor
Reducing the cost of energy, water and material consumption is the first step towards motivating the management of small and medium-sized enterprises to engage in sustainable production and consumption.

Policy advice as guarantor of sustainability and broad-scale impact
Improving the policy framework conditions, under the perspective of an "enabling business environment", fostering competition through benchmarking systems, along with new incentive and promotional strategies are core areas for policy advisory.

The quality of the service market is key
Consultancy services for business development and knowledge providers, be them public or private, must become professionally competent and market-oriented, in order to serve companies to effectively meet the need for improved quality, productivity, resource-management and cleaner production.

Stimulating the market and shaping demand
The support of company networks, eco-industrial parks and information/innovation centres generally prompts entrepreneurs to realign their priorities. Demand for services is stimulated. More efficient state regulation and incentive systems complement this, ultimately relieving pressure on public authorities for pollution control and environmental standards monitoring. The enhancement of a consumer advisory structure and of a policy system of incentives/dis-incentives shall stimulate consumer awareness and influence the market for environmentally compatible production and energy-efficient products.

News & Events