VietNamNet Bridge – Seventy per cent of enterprises with high energy needs and emissions and 50 per cent of industrial production establishments will apply clean and energy-saving technologies by 2020.

Shoppers use environmentally-friendly bags at Co-op Mart. A recently-approved national action programme on sustainable production and consumption has set a target that approximately 65 per cent of non-easily disposed packages in supermarkets and malls and 50 per cent in public markets must be reduced by 2020. — Photo moitruong.com.vn

This is the agenda of a newly approved national action programme on sustainable production and consumption for the period until 2020 with a vision up to 2030.

The decision, No 76/QD-TTg, approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung earlier this year, aims to gradually improve the production and consumption model to ensure more effective use of renewable natural resources and energies and environment-friendly products.

The decision also sets a target that approximately 65 per cent of non-easily disposed packages in supermarkets and malls and 50 per cent in public markets must be reduced.

One of the programme's tasks is to make the distribution system and supply chain more environmentally-friendly by applying cleaner technologies; using energy more economically and effectively when distributing products and services; reducing non-easily disposed packages in supermarkets, malls and public markets; and boosting the utilisation of environmentally-friendly packages.

Several models for distributing environmentally-friendly products and services will be studied, piloted and repeated, while standards and certificates for green distribution models will be created and applied.

The programme will also enhance sustainable linkage among material suppliers, producers, distributors and consumers in producing, distributing and using environmentally-friendly products and services.

In addition, the awareness of participants in the distribution and supply chains and consumers on sustainable production and consumption will be improved.

Meanwhile, green certificates and energy-saving and bio labels will be applied, and green purchasing and sustainable lifestyles will be encouraged and prioritised.

In order to achieve the given targets, the "going-green" distribution system and supply chain for environmentally-friendly products and services will be developed, and the system of standards and certification for a green, environmentally-friendly distribution model will be built.

In addition, sustainable connections between material providers, producers, distributors and consumers in terms of production, distribution and the use of environmentally-friendly products and services will be promoted.

Other goals of the programme are to change consumer behaviour through encouraging an environmentally-friendly lifestyle; having channels broadcast and advertise environmentally-friendly products and services; and disseminating knowledge, policies and laws on sustainable production and consumption among producers, service providers and consumers.

Nguyen Huy Hoan, Deputy Director of the Science and Technology Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, stressed at a recent conference that sustainable production and consumption were important for connecting the country's development goals with the needs of the environment.

"Production and consumption are considered sustainable when they meet the basic needs of the present, establish a better quality of life, reduce the use of natural resources and toxic materials and minimise emissions into the environment," he said.

Source: VNS