Thailand - Seizing Green Growth Opportunities - Chapter 5

Jul 19, 2026

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Thailand can leverage green and climate-adaptive technologies to expand exports beyond its domestic decarbonization efforts. The chapter links growing international demand for clean energy, efficient products like electric vehicles, and adaptation tools such as heat pumps to opportunities for scale-driven gains and deeper participation in green global value chains. It assesses Thailand’s rising but lagging green export shares versus peers, highlights untapped potential measured by green complexity and potential indices, and identifies priority sectors including energy-efficient appliances, solar PV components, EV-related value chains, and carbon capture and storage.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Seizing green growth opportunities

Low-carbon technology supply potential

Green export performance vs peers

Untapped potential and green complexity indicators

Priority sectors and product competitiveness

[Cover Page] and Development Report 2025 Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Thailand 5 Seizing green growth opportunities Beyond its own decarbonization efforts, Thailand could emerge as a supplier of low-carbon solutions to the world. At the same time as its carbon-intensive exports face risks from declining demand, Thailand is well-positioned to capitalize on growing international markets for green and climateadaptive technologies. These include clean energy sources like solar and wind, more efficient products such as electric vehicles, and adaptation technologies like advanced air conditioners and heat pumps. Production of these technologies benefits from economies of scale, magnifying Thailand’s potential economic gains once it establishes a foothold in global markets. This would imply greater participation in green global value chains (GVCs), with Thailand situated in a region that is poised to drive the global green transition. China, for example, has become a leader in green innovation, accounting for a growing share of global R&D and patents in renewable energy and electric vehicles. Meanwhile, regional specialization and competition have helped reduce costs and expand market reach, driving (for example) Viet Nam’s strength in solar panel production and Thailand’s in vehicle components. These dynamics show that countries in the region are already key players in the downstream segments of green and high-efficiency product supply chains.1 While Thailand’s green exports are growing, they continue to lag structural peers and major exporters. Thailand's exports of green products as a share of total exports have been rising steadily (Figure 5.1) . However, when measured as a proportion of its total exports, Thailand’s green exports share remains below structural peers and far behind major (high income) exporters of green products, as well as several countries in EAP (Figure 5.2) Figure 5.1: Green exports (share of total export,%) Figure 5.2: Green products exports as a share of total exports (% of country’s total exports, 2023) EAP UMIC peers Structural peers Major Thailand Note: Major includes China, Germany, USA, Japan, Italy, Rep. of Korea, France, Mexico, UK, and Netherlands; Structural peers include Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand, Bulgaria, and Turkey 16.0 14.0 12.0 10.0 8.0 6.0 4.0 2.0 0.0 China Singapore Republ ic of Korea Malaysia Thailand Philippines V iet Nam Indonesia Source: UN Comtrade; CEPII's BACI database; World Bank staff calculations. See Mealy and Teytelboym, 2022. Thailand has substantial untapped potential to export more complex green products. Based on the Green Complexity Index2, a measure of a country’s current ability to export green complex products 1 de Nicola, Francesca, Aaditya Mattoo, and Trang Thu Tran , 2025,“Green Technologies: Decarbonizing Development in East Asia and Pacific.” Overview booklet. East Asia and Pacific Development Studies. World Bank, Washington, DC. 2 The Green Complexity Index allows for cross-country comparison of the complexity of a country’s trade in green goods based on 6-digit product classification in the Harmonized System. There are some limitations since products may be used in more than one environmental category and many products are dual use, which means they can have both environmental and nonenvironmental purposes. As a result, these green product classifications tend to somewhat over-estimate environmental competitively, Thailand's ranks higher than most regional peers but below structural peers and the major exporters of green complex products. However, among regional peers, Thailand has the highest untapped potential (as measured by the Green Complexity Potential index); indeed, on this measure Thailand ranks among the highest of all middle-income countries3. Thailand has particularly high potential to

FAQs

How can Thailand benefit from international demand for green and climate-adaptive technologies?

Thailand can supply low-carbon solutions as global markets expand for clean energy, efficient products, and adaptation technologies. Production at scale can translate into economic gains once global market footholds are established.

Why does the chapter say Thailand’s green exports lag structural and major exporters?

Although Thailand’s green exports share of total exports is rising, it remains below structural peers and far behind major high-income exporters. Several EAP countries also show higher shares.

What indicators are used to assess Thailand’s untapped potential in green exports?

The chapter uses the Green Complexity Index to gauge current capability and the Green Complexity Potential index to estimate future diversification potential. It also references Revealed Comparative Advantage and Product Complexity for competitiveness and sophistication.

Jul 19, 2026

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