Herve Conan, director of the French Development Agency (AFD), said that with an economic growth rate of at least 6-7 percent, Vietnam’s energy production will increase to 10 percent per annum, and Vietnam would be one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world.

He stressed that it is necessary to change habits now to change the growth curve of CO2 emissions.

“If no action is taken, the energy sector in Vietnam will generate the emission level of 75 percent by 2050. To obtain the Net Zero goal by 2050, there must be a decarbonization process in the energy sector and the unanimous commitments of all branches and people” he said.

Asked if Net Zero is a game for the rich, Nguyen Quoc Khanh, R&D director of Vinamilk, and member of the steering committee of Vinamilk Net Zero project, rejected the opinion and said this is an obligation, responsibility, and right.

“Climate change will have a negative impact on everyone. So, we need to join hands to fight the effects of climate change,” Khanh said.

Agreeing with Khanh, Morgan Donovan Carroll, ESG director of VinFast, said everyone needs to strive for a greener environment for the current and next generations.

He said VinFast won’t set a goal of directly confronting Tesla, but it aims to make good products and join the green transformation process initiated by the government which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile, To Viet Thang, deputy CEO of Vietjet, said Net Zero is a growing trend, especially in the aviation industry and multinational fields, and many standards need to be observed.

“If we don’t prepare, we will face difficulties when other countries set stricter requirements,” he said. “This is not a game, but a mission of enterprises. We need to implement this proactively."

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc stressed that green transformation and emission reduction to implement the Net Zero commitment will face challenges, one of them being resources.

The World Bank has estimated that Vietnam may need to invest $368 billion more by 2040, or 6.8 percent of GDP each year when following the development roadmap that combines resilience capability and zero net emissions. Of this, the process of decarbonization to satisfy international commitments would account for 30 percent of the demand for human resources.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), 40 banks have had reports on funding for green projects, totaling VND500 trillion.

Linh Trang