HCM City (VNA) – Climate change has become one of the great challenges facing humanity, affecting all aspects of economy, politics, diplomacy as well as global security, Nguyen Tuan Quang, Deputy Director of the Climate Change Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), has said.

He made the statement at a seminar on “Accelerating Business Engagement in the Pathway of Vietnam’s Nationally Determined Contributions and Net Zero Emissions” held in Ho Chi Minh City on June 30 by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in cooperation with the Climate Change Department and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

It aimed to share information and experience in greenhouse gas emission reduction between public agencies and the private sector while disseminating policies related to climate change and emission reduction.

The Climate Assessment Report 2022 of the Vietnamese Government has pointed out that socio-economic development activities were the main cause of excessive greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, he said the engagement of enterprises is extremely important not only because they are directly involved in these activities but also because they can contribute greatly in terms of financial and technological resources.

Nguyen Tien Huy, Director of the Office for Business Sustainable Development at VCCI,  said that Vietnam is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change and will suffer huge ecological, economic and social losses if the average temperature increases by 2 degrees Celsius.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the private sector accounts for 70% of the total 21 billion USD investment needed to adapt to climate change in Vietnam.

It is necessary for businesses in Vietnam to take stronger actions to accelerate the process of reducing emissions such as providing and putting into use sustainable, carbon-free energy sources at a more affordable price; optimise the use of resources to meet society's needs as well as build financial mechanisms to improve transparency and efficiency in corporate reporting, he said.

To facilitate private sector engagement in National Determined Contributions (NDC), MONRE has collaborated with JICA in the implementation of the project “Support for Planning and Implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions in Vietnam (SPI-NDC”), Huy said.

The project will help promote the participation of the private sector by improving technical capacities of enterprises that are subject to facility GHG reporting systems being developed with support from Japanese experts.

Murooka Naomichi, Senior Representative of JICA Vietnam, affirmed that through the SPI-NDC project, JICA will continue to provide opportunities for both capacity building and dialogue among key actors to consolidate the partnership./.