Vietnam Country Climate and Development Report
January 24, 2023
Like most countries in the world, Vietnam is increasingly seeing its development affected by climate change. With a coastline of 3,260 kilometers that includes major cities and production sites, Vietnam is highly exposed to sea-level rise. Climate change impacts on the Vietnamese economy and national welfare are already significant—about 3.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020—and they are expected to escalate rapidly even if greater efforts are made to mitigate future climate change around the world.
Vietnam has historically had very low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but over the past two decades, it has seen some of the fastest emissions growth rates in the world. From 2000 to 2015, as GDP per capita increased from $390 to $2,000, per capita emissions more than quadrupled. Vietnam’s GHG emissions are associated with toxic air pollution in many of its cities today, with implications for health and labor productivity. At the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November 2021 (COP26), the Prime Minister made several commitments, including an ambitious target of reducing emissions to net zero by 2050. Vietnam’s increased attention to climate change and the environment reflects the growing economic costs of resource depletion and climate impacts, which have already started to harm trade and investment— two key drivers of the nation’s robust growth and job creation in recent decades.
Vietnam now faces critical questions about how to respond to climate change: How intensively should it work to adapt to previous and predicted damages caused by climate change, given the uncertainty of global mitigation efforts? How much will it cost to reduce GHG emissions? How can the private sector be mobilized to help achieve Vietnam’s climate goals? Are there trade-offs between adaptation and mitigation investments? Are there trade-offs between economic growth, poverty reduction, and climate action, and how can they be managed? Which sectors and regions should be prioritized? What are the distributional implications of a low-carbon, climate-resilient growth path?
You can read or download the full report below.
Hot Reports
Covid-19 and a Just Transition in India's Coal Mining Sector
The COVID 19 pandemic hit India hard in early 2020, with negative GDP growth and a surge in unemployment. In the energy sector, coal fired power generation was already under pressure from overcapacity, low electricity demand growth, and increasingly competitive renewables.
Considerations for a Just and Equitable Energy Transition
As the energy transition accelerates, it is our responsibility, it is our opportunity, to ensure that in addition to contributing to a healthy planet by replacing fossil fuels with clean energy sources, this is accomplished in a just and equitable manner providing prosperity for all.
*We post information pursuant to the U.S. Fair Use Doctrine, and applicable international standards, in order to advance the knowledge base and education of our global audience. We endeavor to include the original link to documents. However, upon requests of original authors of posted documents, where explicit use permission is not granted, we will remove documents if it is determined continued use is not appropriate. We also reserve the full right to not include, or remove, any data inconsistent with our mission.