Upscaling of carbon-net neutral housing planned

Since late 2019, the Ministry of Construction (MOC) has been developing a project idea for a mitigation action in the housing sector, and successfully submitted it to the NAMA Facility, an international fund, in September 2020.

The “NAMA Support Project” (“Housing NAMA towards carbon-net neutral housing”) aims at sustainably and irreversibly transforming the building sector towards decarbonization. It will contribute to the mitigation ambition and climate targets of the country, which have been revised in the updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) recently submitted to the UNFCCC this year.

Currently, energy efficiency has played a rather minor role in the planning and construction of residential buildings in Vietnam. The demand for it is also relatively low, partly due to higher upfront investment. To enable the transformation in this housing sector towards increased energy savings, the project focuses on addressing the barriers and creating favorable conditions and incentives to allow mid-income groups to access affordable energy efficient housing. The proposal development was supported by the IKI-funded GIZ Project “Support to Vietnam for the Implementation of the Paris Agreement” (VN-SIPA), in cooperation with the Programme for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (PEEB) and with additional leveraged funding sought from Agence française de développement (AFD).

The submission of the NAMA Support Project (NSP) will undergo a comprehensive assessment from NAMA Facility, with the final decision made by the Board expected in Spring 2021. If greenlighted by the NAMA Facility, the NSP will be developed into a full-fledged project proposal.