In the hopes of speeding up net zero transition, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) have been tasked with coordinating the establishment of a renewable energy center, which is expected to promote human resource training and technological transfer, as well as share legal knowledge and national governance in climate change adaptation.
During the 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP26), which took place in November in Glasgow, the United Kingdom, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính pledged that Vietnam would achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and would gradually phase out coal-fired power plants, while appealing for international partners' assistance, particularly developed countries that have benefited from long periods of industrialization in the past, to help achieve the goals.
The government has published a notice last week, suggesting that it is necessary to continue raising awareness of the importance and urgency of implementing the commitments made at COP 26 in connection with promoting international cooperation with the country’s strategic partners in order to attract more resources, particularly in finance, technology, governance, and human resource training to support economic recovery and green energy development.
To carry out the project for renewable energy center, the Ministry of Justice will collaborate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, as well as other relevant ministries and sectors, to develop a technical assistance project.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information and Communications is responsible for cooperating with key authorities to develop a communications project, which includes setting up websites on green growth, green energy transition, digital transition, and climate change.
While the country has been working to attract renewable energy entrepreneurs since 2011, the renewable energy sector in Vietnam only took off in 2018. To date, wind and solar energy have become the driving force for the country’s power sector growth. The country's solar capacity reached 16.5 GW by the end of 2020, shown by Energy Tracker Asia’s statistics. In addition, the government plans to develop 12 GW of onshore and offshore wind by 2025.
