Consultation of the National Climate Change Strategy to 2050 with 2050 net-zero target

On April 26, Vice Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), Mr. Le Cong Thanh, together with UNDP Resident Representative in Viet Nam, Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, and Chargé d’Affaires of the German Embassy in Hanoi, Mr. Weert Börner, co-chaired the Consultation Workshop on the Draft National Climate Change Strategy (NCCS) to 2050. The conference was attended by high-level representatives of different development partners, embassies, climate change focal points of line ministries  and other  stakeholders in Viet Nam.

Opening the conference, Vice Minister Le Cong Thanh stated that the draft NCCS to 2050 reflects a qualitative change in the response to climate change in Viet Nam, outlining the roadmap to realize Vietnam’s commitments at COP26 and implement the tasks and solutions set out to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Accordingly, three different scenarios that contain different technology options have been developed on how climate neutrality can be achieved across sectors by the mid of the century, and were presented for discussion during the conference.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Weert Börner emphasized that “with the completion of the net-zero NCCS just five months after COP26, the Government of Viet Nam keeps sending a strong message for climate ambition. … Germany is determined to continue supporting Vietnam in implementing the required net-zero transformation in a just and sustainable manner”, he affirmed.

Apart from achieving emission neutrality, the strategy draft aims to strengthen the country’s capacity to adapt to climate change, reduce the vulnerability and losses caused by climate change, while making full use of opportunities to speed up the transformation of the growth model, enhancing the resilience and competitiveness of the economy, and making positive and responsible contributions to international efforts in protecting the global climate.

Participants generally commended MONRE on the speed of translating the commitments made at COP26 into the draft NCCS and provided comments, recommendations and perspectives on many of its aspects. A common theme was the necessity to assure coherence with other national strategies and policies and the urgency to put the strategy into action. The Strategy draft has in the meantime been submitted to the government for approval.

The full statement presented by Mr. Weert Börner, Chargé d’Affaires at the German Embassy to Vietnam, can be found here (link Meeting ambitious climate objectives (vir.com.vn)