The Ministry of Industry and Trade is currently the governmental agency mandated to implement two most important measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Vietnam's energy and industrial sectors, namely energy efficiency and renewable energy. In the coming time, policies to support the implementation of these two solutions will be the main concern of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, with a view to implementing the country's commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Climate change and response to global climate change
In scientific theory, climate change is the change of the climate system including atmospheric, hydrosphere, and biosphere, current and future lithosphere, caused by natural and artificial influence in a certain period in a decade or millions of years. In recent times, climate change has been considered as a "global warming" and this natural process has been identified as the cause of increasing greenhouse gases, with increased greenhouse effect of the Earth's atmosphere. Greenhouse gases, including CO2, N2O, CH4, O3, SF6, HFCs and PFCs in the atmosphere, can absorb heat radiation from the Earth, causing atmospheric high temperatures on Earth.
The natural cause of global warming is seen as the natural process of Earth's motion in the solar system and it is in the melting ice period of millions of years (while temperature in the Earth's atmosphere goes up). Man-made causes are identified by an increase in activities that generate greenhouse gas emissions including burning fossil fuels in industry, energy, and transportation, etc. Other causes are attributed to over extraction of natural sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases such as biomass, forests, marine ecosystems, coastal and inland areas, etc. Particularly, under the human impacts and causes of climate change, the natural global warming becomes faster than ever and has become one of the greatest challenges for human in the 21st Century, meanwhile Vietnam is considered one of the nations to bear serious impacts of the climate change.
Climate change is characterized by the movement of climatic zones, high frequency of extreme weather patterns, the change of ocean currents, causing increased temperature in the earth’s atmosphere, changing the air components and air quality, ice melting, sea level rise, flooding, impact on biogeochemical cycles, structure and function of many ecosystems, affecting food security and poverty, energy security, water supply and global trade. ... With the full range of raging and negative impacts that are happening, it is imperative for all nations to work together to implement the appropriate solutions so as to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change, towards global sustainable development in the future.
Responding to global climate change is defined as the simultaneous implementation of two solutions: Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation. Adaptation is the process of adjusting natural systems or human activities to suit the changing circumstances and environments in order to reduce vulnerability to climate change or to take advantage of the opportunities offered by it. Climate change mitigation is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the use of fossil fuels in economies (oil, coal, gas, etc.). Greenhouse gas emissions (forest plantation, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and adaptation solutions have been applied in the fields of agriculture, aquaculture, transportation, infrastructure, water resource management and disaster prevention, etc. GHG emission reductions are concentrated in the fields of industry, energy, transportation, forestry and agriculture.
Mitigation of climate change in industrial and energy activities
As we all know, reducing greenhouse gas emissions through reducing the use of fossil fuels in the economy is the reduction of the energy demand or switching to fossil fuel (coal). oil, gas) to other renewable energies.
Reducing energy demand is the most economical and efficient use of energy, which is considered the most important solution with the lowest cost and most effective measure for any country. All the solutions for energy efficiency can be deployed in all processes of industries, construction, transportation and life of households, etc., thus contributing to reducing the demand for electricity, mainly from fossil fuels (electricity produced from coal, oil, natural gas). In the field of industry, solutions are to improve the equipment for efficiency, to change the operating procedures so as energy efficiency and cost savings are achieved to reduce production costs and increase competitiveness. This is the model of applying cleaner production in the industry that we are actively implementing.
Transforming energy supply from fossils into renewable forms of energy is the development, the use of energy that are considered non-GHG emissions such as hydro, solar, wind, and biomass, biogas, geothermal, tidal, electricity from waste and nuclear power ... The increased share of renewable energy production in total energy consumption of each country will reduce the corresponding fossil energy ratio in terms of total demand is constant.
The Industry and Trade sector realizes the international commitments on climate change in Vietnam
Facing the current situation and the threat of global climate change to the sustainable development of all nations, since 1990, the international community has been making great efforts to cooperate and support the nations to adapt effectively to climate change and together reduce greenhouse gas emissions towards the expected goal of keeping the Earth's atmosphere warmer by no more than 2°C by the end of this century. Under the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol is the most important legal document with a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of developed countries in two Phases; Phase I from 2005 to 2012 and Phase II from 2013 to 2020. With a commitment to cut down the quantified greenhouse gas emission reduction of less than 5% over phase I in 1990 and Phase II over 18% of the member countries have implemented through three mechanisms: Joint -implementation (JI); Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); and the International Emission Trading Scheme (ET).
In the context of the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2020 and implementing the principle of "shared responsibility" of the Convention, at the 21st Conference of the member countries to the Convention in Paris (COP21), all 196 member countries reached consensus on a global legal document on global commitments to tackle global climate change for the period 2021-2030: "The Paris Climate Change Agreement". After the signing of the Paris Agreement on 22 April 2016, the Government of Vietnam has officially ratified the Resolution No. 93/NQ-CP dated October 31, 2016 and is effective from December 3, 2016. Participating in the Paris Accord, Vietnam committed to simultaneously implement two measures on adaptation and mitigation of climate change according to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) of Vietnam to the UNFCCC Secretariat in 2015. In terms of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, Vietnam committed itself to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 8% compared to the Business- As-Usual conventional emissions scenario (BAU) by 2021-2030. It is possible to reach 25% by receiving additional support from the international community.
According to Viet Nam's First Annual Biennial Update Report (BUR1) in 2014, Vietnam's total greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 were estimated at 246.8 million tons of CO2 equivalent. Of which 141.1 million tons of CO 2 is equivalent to 53%, and it is projected to increase to 381.1 million tons by 2020, equivalent to 81% and 648.5 million tons by 2030, equivalent to about 85% of total national emissions. Emissions in the energy sector include the use of fossil fuels and energy consumption in all sectors of the economy.
In calculation, with a major contribution to greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial and energy sectors and expected to contribute to the country's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 8%, the energy sector implements 11 low-cost options (8 solutions for efficient use and 3 for renewable energy use) to achieve a reduction of 4.4% / 8% and be ready for implementation. Six high-cost solutions (one for energy efficiency and five for renewable energy) contribute a further 9.8% / 25% reduction. As can be seen in the 17 solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Vietnam, there are eight solutions related to energy efficiency, which is a top priority for self-implementation, meanwhile, the high-cost solutions for the development of renewable energy still requires substantial support from the international community.
In order to hit greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in industrial and energy activities in Vietnam, the Ministry of Industry and Trade established a Steering Committee on Climate Change Response and Green Growth Mr. Tran Tuan Anh as the leader, Vice Minister Hoang Quoc Vuong as the deputy, members with the key participation of 2 units are the Department of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development - and the Department of Electricity and Renewable Energy. These are the two leading agencies for the implementation of policies, implementation of solutions for energy efficiency and development of renewable energy in Vietnam.
On the basis of the Law on Energy Efficiency and Conservation in 2010, the system of guiding documents stipulates the application of energy saving labels for energy consuming devices and regulations on norms to set minimum energy consumption and roadmap to be applied to some major energy use sectors ... are basically completed. Supportive activities such as information, propaganda, training and training of energy managers are regularly implemented and bring about concrete and practical results.
In the implementation of the Energy Development Strategy, the Renewable Energy Development Strategy and the Master Plan for Electricity Development to 2020, with a vision to 2030 in Vietnam, the Ministry of Industry and Trade enacted policies to support the development of renewable energy forms such as wind power, solar power, biomass and electromagnetism from solid waste with adequate support mechanisms. However, given the high cost investment and the technical limitations of these types of energy, the results are still not commensurate with their potentiality.
For confirmation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is currently the government agency mandated to implement the two most important measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the field of energy and industry of Vietnam, which is the efficient use of Energy and renewable energy development. In the coming time, policies to support the implementation of these two solutions will be further concerned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, with a view to successful implementation of the country's commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
M.A Nguyen Quang Huy
Secretary of the Climate Change Office and Green Growth
Ministry of Industry and Trade
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