Urbanisation’s Impacts on Climate Change Need to be Addressed Comprehensively

According to Ms Nguyen Le Thuy, Deputy Director of the Department of Science, Education, Natural Resources and Environment and Deputy Director of the Office for Sustainable Development, MPI said that low carbon development plans have become indispensable trends in the world, particularly in the context of traditional energy sources dwindling, prices fluctuating erratically, and natural disasters and phenomena more complicated. If the leaders of the nations of the world soon recognise the problems, the low carbon development will greatly contribute to climate change mitigation while creating substantial financial resources through the efficient use of energy, energy savings and pollution reduction. Low-carbon development is a sustainable and effective way in response to climate change, particularly meaningful for Vietnam known as a new developing country with limited financial reserves.

 

According to Ms Nguyen Le Thuy, in regard to the policy framework on reducing climate change and promoting green environment, the Vietnamese Government has approved the National Strategy for Green Growth, one of the objectives of which is focused on reducing low-carbon and emissions and increasing ability to absorb greenhouse gases. The Vietnamese Government has approved the National Strategy on Climate Change and have had the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The INDC represents the best effort of the nation in contributing to mitigating global climate change through the implementation of the climate change objectives of the Convention.

 

Prof Dr Tran Thuc, Vice Chairman of the Advisory Council of the National Commission on Climate Change cum former Head of Natural Sciences Institute of Meteorology and Climate Change, said that, as of October 1, 2015, there were 120 of 147 countries representing 89.9 percent of global emission that had the INDC submitted to the UNFCCC. First, most of the parties have proposed for lower greenhouse gas emissions. This proposal is the highest commitments to the amount of emissions the parties have made since then. And according to calculations by the scientists, the INDCs can reduce the global warming of about 0.5°C to 1°C compared to the policies being implemented.

 

Also, according to Dr Tran Thuc, with the INDC's commitment of Vietnam by 2030, Vietnam is forced to cut back to 8 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions compared to the current scenario, of which 20 percent emission intensity per unit of GDP will be lowered than in 2010 and 45 percent of forest cover will be increased. With conditional contributions, the contributions may increase to 25 percent upon international assistance through bilateral and multilateral mechanisms and the implementation of the new agreement on global climate, including reduced 30 percent emission intensity per unit of GDP than in 2010.

 

According to the prognosis of the scientists and experts, to accomplish the above objectives, the Government of Vietnam is required to strengthen the leading role of the State in response to the climate change, enhancing energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption. At the same time, it is necessary to restructure fuel elements of the industry and transportation' effectively to increase renewable energy sources in the production and consumption of energy; to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable agricultural development; to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of agricultural production; to manage and sustain the forests; to enhance carbon sequestration and environmental services; to conserve biological diversity associated with livelihood development; to raise incomes for communities and people whose incomes rely on the forestry activities; to manage the waste; to raise awareness and to enhance international cooperation.

 

Prof. Dr. Tran Thuc also gives alarming statistics to reduce the CO2 emissions in specific sectors such as construction, cement, steel, transportation, pulp and paper from now to 2020. And to do this, Vietnam needs more than US$30 billion. According to the National Strategy for Green Growth, over the last decade, the climate change has caused annual losses of about 2-6 percent of Vietnam's GDP. Currently, the rate of emissions of Vietnam has increased over the proportion of GDP. Therefore, Vietnam aims to reduce the emission intensity of greenhouse gases from 8 percent to 10 percent compared to 2010 and the energy consumption per unit of GDP to 1 percent to 1.5 percent per annum in the period of 2011-2020.

 

Sharing experiences and information on this issue, Mr David Raizer, the economist of ADB said that the technical assistance project for five Asian countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam has been funded by the ADB, Japan, the United Kingdom. The main purpose of the project aims to create conditions for the participating countries to switch to low-carbon growth through the development and application of growth planning models and formulations suitable to the characteristics of each nation as well as to analyse policies and provide inputs to the plans of development, training and capacity building for agencies involved in the maintenance and use of low-carbon models. Currently, the project has entered the final stages and within the framework of the project, the experts have built and developed the low-carbon model to support the policy choices of low-carbon growth of Vietnam.