Tran Hieu Minh from the Department of Forestry, at a seminar discussing the development of a green economy in agriculture on November 21, said that since 2010, emission reduction has been very impressive, about 40 million tons of CO2/year.

The carbon credit potential serves as a platform for Vietnam to participate in providing forestry carbon services. The country has signed an agreement on carbon payments with the World Bank.

Vu Tan Phuong from the Vietnamese Academy of Forest Sciences (VAFS) estimated that the forestry sector emits 30 million tons of carbon each year, and if counting the volume of carbon absorption, the net emission would be minus (-) 40 million tons of CO2.

If Vietnam can increase the volume of carbon absorbed each year, it would be able to increase productivity and the quality of exhausted and planted forests, thus collecting 60-70 million tons of CO2 certificates each year.

Speaking from Baku, Azerbaijan, Nguyen Dinh Tho, director of the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Natural Resources and Environment, said: ‘I am at COP29. The focus of the conference is mobilizing financial resources all over the globe to support countries in adapting to and reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

Vietnam has gained many achievements in mobilizing financial resources for emission reduction, especially in the agricultural sector.

“After 10 years of preparation, we successfully sold the first carbon credits, earning $51.5 million,” he said, referring to the carbon credit transfer deal in late 2023. 

He affirmed that Vietnam, which is among the top 5 countries in the world with the greatest potential in carbon credits, is preparing for larger projects.

Regarding the carbon credit market in Vietnam, Tho said Vietnam has been slow in this field because of bottlenecks in policies and the lack of a transparent legal framework.

Meanwhile, other countries, including Thailand and Singapore, have formed their carbon credit markets with big official investments.

The 2017 Forestry Law has stipulations about planted and natural forests, but has not clarified the regimes related to carbon credits.

Investors who want to join the market need to know the regimes on benefit sharing, but this has not been legalized, thus making it difficult to attract investment in natural forest projects.

As for planted forests with no wood exploitation, Vietnam now has great opportunities to create double benefits from carbon credits. In fact, one hectare of planted forests under large wood projects has created an additional 120,000 tons of CO2 within 10 years.

There are two hectares of planted forests with a lot of wood. And if the benefit sharing scheme cannot be clarified, Vietnam won’t be able to get the desired effects.

The longer the carbon credit is kept, the lower the price will be.

In order to create a carbon credit market that operates and connects with the world, Tho believes there must be a transparent recognition procedure. 

In the immediate time, developing a domestic carbon credit market remains more feasible. Enterprises now can make investment in technologies to both reduce emissions and create additional financial capability, thus promoting sustainable agriculture and green development.

Tho said that Vietnam has good experience after implementing two national forestry development programs. It has the capability and a workforce to continue to deploy these. The state’s strict control over the carbon credit market is a must to avoid duplicate transactions.

Regarding new carbon credit agreements, Tran Hieu Minh said 100 percent of credits will be contributed to NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions). In 2021-2025, Vietnam hopes to create 25 million tons of carbon credits.

However, Minh stressed that Vietnam needs to grasp the opportunity, because the longer the carbon credits are kept, the cheaper they will be. At present, both international and domestic partners have shown interest in carbon credit transfers.

Ha Cong Tuan, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, denied that Vietnam had sold carbon credits at low prices.

He said that prices of carbon credits in the south-central region and Central Highlands were $5-10 per credit. More importantly, 95 percent of credit value has been retained for NDCs, and can bring direct benefits to farmers. 

Tam An