Green growth strategy implementation in northern Vietnam reviewed
A conference was opened in Hanoi on December 11 to make a mid-term review on the implementation of the Vietnam Green Growth Strategy in the northern region.
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The two-day event was organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), the Macroeconomic Reforms/Green Growth Programme – part of Vietnam-Germany development cooperation, and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).
Jin Young Kim, director for the GGGI’s Asia-Pacific, said Vietnam has made great strides since it issued the ambitious national strategy. Successful outcomes and creative solutions to overcome many challenges over the last period will help augment efforts to carry out the strategy in the time ahead.
The Vietnam Green Growth Strategy, approved in September 2012, requests ministries, sectors and localities to proactively build their own action plans on green growth. The MPI was assigned to coordinate with other ministries, sectors and localities to implement action plans.
More than 30 provinces and eight ministries have issued their respective action plans on green growth while some localities are working to devise their plans.
Le Duc Chung, a specialist on the strategy implementation, said the northern region has the lowest rate of localities issuing green growth action plans. Most of the issued plans have been implemented. However, data on greenhouse gas emissions have not been collected, resulting in green growth potential, priority actions and plan implementation costs not clarified.
Aside from advantages, localities have also faced a number of difficulties and challenges in realising the Vietnam Green Growth Strategy through their action plans. Particularly, green growth requires big funding, about US$30 billion, 70% of which is expected to be covered by the private sector and the remaining 30% by state budget.
While public investment is limited, a shortage of policies that are attractive enough to lure financial funding, asynchronous policies, and limited capacity and experience have also hampered action plan implementation.
Dr Nguyen Thi Diem Hang from the Hanoi Institute for Socio-Economic Development Studies said ministries should provide guidance on a framework for building green growth action plans and on the use of state budget. They also need to issue an official model for greenhouse gas emission calculation and set emission targets for localities.
