Vietnam plans to develop a low-carbon economy and include climate-change resistance work in its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for the Paris climate accords. (Photo: kienviet.net)
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam plans to
develop a low-carbon economy and include climate-change resistance work in its
updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for the Paris climate accords.
The information was released by Pham Van
Tan, deputy head of the Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change Department
under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment at a recent workshop in
Hanoi.
The workshop was organised by the
environment ministry and the German International Co-operation Agency to
consult experts and policymakers before updating the NDC.
The move was taken under the requirements
of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, Tan said.
Each party that ratified the Paris
agreement was asked to submit an updated NDC every five years, defining their
efforts to contribute to holding the increase in the global average temperature
to well below 2 degrees Celsius, pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5
degrees Celsius and achieving net zero emissions by the second half of this
century, he said.
Speaking at the workshop, Professor Tran
Thuc, a member of the Vietnam’s Panel on Climate Change said the update was to
be made after environmental changes in the international and domestic context.
In the world, the latest change was China
shutting all coal-fire power plants in Beijing and cancelling the construction
of about 100 coal plants that were planned or under construction earlier this
year, he said.
Additionally, developing renewable energy
such as wind and solar was becoming a global trend, with the prices of wind and
solar energy predicted to sharply fall by 2020, he said.
In Vietnam, per the national electricity
roadmap to 2020, amended last March, the ratio of renewable energy is hoped to
account for 6.5 percent of total national electricity output, he said.
Further, in late 2016, the National
Assembly cancelled a project to build the Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant, he
said.
“Renewable energy is expected to be
one of major energy sources to replace nuclear power,” he added.
Roadmap for NDC update
Tan said after the workshop, an
inter-sectoral team, including officers from ministries and agencies, would be
set up in July to compile detailed updates for the NDC. The team will collect
information for the update in September.
After Vietnam participated in the 23rd
session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) in November, more information
should be added to the updated version, he said.
The first draft of the updated NDC is
expected to be finished in March 2018. The near-final draft will be submitted
to the Government’s consultation agencies in June 2019. After receiving
comments from agencies, the final draft will be finished and sent to the
Government in August 2019. The official updated version of NDC will be sent to
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in September
2019.
Martin Hoppe, First Counsellor of German
Embassy in Vietnam said the updated NDC would contribute to providing
information for the dialogue in 2018 and global inventory under the UNFCCC in
2023.
As Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and
Environment Vo Tuan Nhan highlighted in his speech the need for support to
provide information and to conduct research for the updated NDC, “Germany
is happy to contribute” through ongoing projects in various areas funded
by its government, Martin added.
According to Nhan, the NDC is a national
effort and requires careful consideration by all major contributors and
transparency in implementation.
Stakeholders should understand what their
contributions are, what to prepare to and their responsibilities after the NDC
is approved, he said.
Nhan also called for close cooperation and
support from all ministries, agencies, development partners and other related
stakeholders to this important process of reviewing and updating NDC.-VNA