LEAF/Emergent stands for Lowering Emissions by Accelerating Forest Finance (LEAF)/ Organisation for Forest Financial Enhancement (Emergent).

According to the General Department of Forestry, Vietnam still doesn’t have a compulsory carbon credit market. The transfer of the results in emission reductions is carried out via bilateral negotiation results between involved parties on a voluntary basis.

As for the forest carbon credit market, the Ministry of Agriculture and Development (MARD) and has been assigned by the PM to implement two agreements on emission reduction result transfer.

One of them is ERPA (the Emissions Reduction Purchase Agreement) in the south central region and Central Highlands. 

On October 31, 2021, at the COP26 meeting, with the witness of Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Minister of MARD Le Minh Hoan signed a letter of intention with Emergent, which says Vietnam will transfer to LEAF/Emergent 5.15 million tons of CO2 in 2022-2026.

LEAF/Emergent will pay for the service at the price of $10 per ton of CO2 at minimum, and the total value of the agreement is $51.5 million. 

The registered area of commercial forests for emission reductions is 4.26 million hectares, including 3.24 million hectares of natural forests and 1.02 million hectares of planted forests.

MARD has completed the submission of dossiers registering for credit granting in accordance with TREES (the REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard). It is moving ahead with organizing technical negotiation sessions with Emergent to complete the negotiation plan and report to the PM for decision.

The second one is ERPA in the north central region, signed on October 22, 2020 between MARD and the World Bank as the trustee of FCPF (the Forestry Carbon Partnership Fund) aiming to transfer 10.3 million tons of CO2 in the North Central region in 2018-2024 at the unit price of $5 USD/ton CO2 equivalent to $51.5 million.

About 95 percent of transfer results will be returned to Vietnam to contribute to NDC (nationally determined contributions).

The report on emission reduction results Phase 1 (2018-2019) has been confirmed by the World Bank. The reduced emissions of the north central region reached 16.21 million tons of CO2. Vietnam completed the transfer of 10.3 million tons of CO2 to the World Bank.

As for the 5.91 million tons of CO2 left, the World Bank has agreed to buy one more ton. The PM will make the decision on the remaining 4.91 million tons. 

Tam An