VietNamNet Bridge - China ranks first with 20.09 percent, while Vietnam is 27th in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, with 0.72 percent of total global emissions.

A conference discussing the Paris Climate Agreement was held by the Ministryof Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) on August 18 in HCMC. At the conference, Pham Van Tan, deputy head of the Climate Change Agency said that China, as of August, was ranked first among the 195 countries which signed the climate agreement in greenhouse gas emissions.

The US ranked second with 17.89 percent of greenhouse gas emissions of total global emissions. However, US President Donald Trump has announced the US withdrawal from the agreement. 

MONRE chief Vo Tuan Nhan emphasized that greenhouse gas emissions are an important factor leading to climate change, with 95 percent of greenhouse gas created by humans and only 5 percent from nature.

The report has once again raised concerns about Vietnam’s continued use of outdated Chinese technologies in many production fields.

Nearly 90 percent of Vietnamese enterprises use outdated technologies and 76 percent of imported machines and production lines were made in the 1950s and 1960s, 75 percent of which are fully depreciated.

An environmentalist commented that Vietnam is a heavy user of Chinese technology which causes serious pollution and produces greenhouse gas emissions.

He cited a report released by MST recently as saying that nearly 90 percent of Vietnamese enterprises use outdated technologies and 76 percent of imported machines and production lines were made in the 1950s and 1960s, 75 percent of which are fully depreciated. 

The report pointed out that only 10 percent of enterprises use modern technologies and only 2 percent high technology. The proportion is much lower than the 31 percent in Thailand, 51 percent in Malaysia and 73 percent in Singapore.

Vietnam continues developing coal-fired thermal power plants, considering it as the major electricity supply source for the economy. Meanwhile, in many other countries, coal-fire thermal power is no longer being developed because of its polluting effect on the environment.

However, MOIT affirmed that Vietnam will still need thermal power plants to generate electricity to satisfy high power demand.

Coal-fired power plants make up 35 percent of the country’s total electricity output, while under the seventh national electricity development plan, the figure is expected to increase to 53.2 percent of electricity production by 2030.

MOIT tried to reassured the public when affirming that the use of advanced technologies would help mitigate the impacts on the environment. 

However, Dinh Trong Thinh from the Finance Academy said most of the machines and equipment used in industry are out of date. Since developed countries don’t intent to continue developing thermal power, they are not developing equipment in the field.

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