SET-listed Millcon Steel, a Thai steel manufacturer, plans to embark on more green business strategies, including the construction of a waste-to-energy power plant and trading carbon credits, as it is determined to follow the government's bio-, circular and green economic model.
The company wants to develop its steel business in line with the global effort to achieve a net-zero carbon target by 2050.
The net-zero campaign is aimed at striking a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and absorption.
Sittichai Leeswadtrakul, chairman of Millcon's executive committee, said the company plans to build a new power plant that uses refuse-derived fuel for electricity generation, with a capacity of 9.9 megawatts.
"We want the refuse-derived fuel power plant, together with a carbon credit trading plan, to better support the company's business in the future because this industry does not have a very good image," he said, citing the perception the sector is not environmentally friendly.
The firm plans to add more environmentally friendly projects to its business to support its plan to trade carbon credits in the future.
Carbon credits, which refer to the amount of greenhouse gas reduction generated by environmental projects, can be traded to companies to offset the carbon dioxide they release into the atmosphere.
Millcon also formed joint ventures with other firms to produce electricity from biomass and biogas, then sell it to the Provincial Electricity Authority. The firm also installed solar panels to supply electricity to its factories.
Millcon expects steel consumption in Thailand in 2022 to reach 18-19 million tonnes thanks to the state's infrastructure development projects, including the Thai-Chinese high-speed train project. It expects to sell 1.2 million tonnes of steel products domestically and overseas next year, up from a target of 600,000 tonnes in 2021.