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“Vietnam is now preparing for its 2011-2020 socio-economic development strategy and the 2011-2015 socio-economic development plan. It needs to find an economic growth model that will not only ensure sustainable growth, but also help mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change,” said Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Bich Dat.

At a recent international consultation workshop on low carbon and climate resilient growth in Vietnam, Dat said Vietnam could mitigate up to 40 per cent of its combined energy-related CO2 emissions by 2020.

“Now is an appropriate time for Vietnam to select the low-carbon growth model as the international community is ready to provide the nation with financial and technological support,” said Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Van Duc.

British ambassador to Vietnam Mark Kent said the international community was ready to stand by Vietnam in building such an economic model. At present, the British government is supporting Vietnam in studying the economics of low carbon and climate resilient growth, expected to be completed next year and interwoven into the country’s socio-economic development plans.

However Malcolm Smart, an expert from the UK’s Department for International Development which compiled the study, also warned that Vietnam’s target to become an industrial country by 2020 would be affected by stress from mitigating CO2 emissions to achieve a low carbon status. This was due to the country’s increasingly ineffective consumption of traditional energy via backward technologies.

Vietnam’s economy is small-scaled, so its CO2 emissions remain low. In 2006, the country’s CO2 emissions were equal to 0.35 per cent of the world’s total emissions, 0.92 per cent of Asia’s, 1.85 per cent of the United States’ and 1.7 per cent of China’s.

“Vietnam has not contributed significantly to the historical build-up of atmospheric green house gases that are causing global climate change, and the nation’s per capita CO2 emissions are not yet comparable to those of rich countries. However, Vietnam is now adding to the cause of global climate change with steadily increasing emissions,” said Koos Neefjes, an United Nations climate change expert.

Dat said Vietnam’s CO2 emissions had increased five-fold between 1990-2006. According to the ADETEF Vietnam, a non-governmental organisation, at present Vietnam’s per capita CO2 emissions are 1.4 tonnes per year, while the figure is six tonnes in France, 10 tonnes in Germany and 20 tonnes in the US.

“But if the country fails to pay attention to controlling greenhouse gas emissions, its per capita CO2 emissions may increase to 7.7 tonnes per year by 2040 and 10 tonnes by 2050,” said Henri Prévot, an ADETEF Vietnam advisor.

To join global efforts in controlling greenhouse gas emissions, Vietnam has revised its energy policies to effectively use energy and attract more clean energy projects.

“In the coming time, Vietnam’s new energy development strategy will focus on developing small-scaled hydroelectricity and wind power plants, projects using rubbish and agricultural by-products to generate electricity and solar-powered projects,” said Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai at last year’s Vietnam-France Economic and Financial Forum on energy and sustainable development.

Source: Vietnam Investment Review