Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính (third from right) visits an environmentally friendly products booth at the Green Economy Forum & Exhibition 2022 which opened on Monday in HCM City. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

Bồ Xuân Hiệp

HCM CITY — Climate change is a global issue which requires international cooperation to make a significant impact since no country can fix the problem on its own, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính said at the Green Economy Forum & Exhibition 2022 (GEFE 2022), which opened on Monday in HCM City.

Speaking at GEFE 2022, the PM said all solutions to global warming require global cooperation, and people must be a central pillar of any successful climate change strategy. 

“Policies that address climate change must deliver benefits to people,” he noted.

As one of the countries most affected by climate change, Việt Nam has approved a green development strategy to combat climate change and is committed to achieve net emissions to zero by 2050, he said.

It has developed a master plan to convert from the use of fossil fuels to renewable energies, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in all fields, according to the PM.

It is willing to join international friends, especially the EU, to make this transition based on the requirements of ensuring fairness and justice.

Việt Nam will continue to work with the EU and other countries around the world to exchange and perfect mechanisms and policies to mobilise resources to realise the target.

PM Chính said he hoped the EU would continue to support Việt Nam in terms of preferential finance, technology transfer, and mobilising resources needed to fulfill the commitment.

Việt Nam has also set goals by 2030 to become a modern, middle-income developed country and by 2045 to be a high-income country. 

Alain Cany, chairman of the European Chambers of Commerce (EuroCham), said the conference aims to help Việt Nam meet its ambitious COP26 commitments and national green growth strategy for 2021-2030.

“Việt Nam can achieve a robust green transition only through a whole-of-society transformation that reimagines how people live and how economic development is approached,” he said.

To accomplish this, the European and Vietnamese governments, the private sector, and the public sector must work together, according to Cany.

GEFE 2022 can and will help accelerate this process through the strength of the bilateral partnership. 

Global triple crisis

Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, said the world faces a triple crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, each of which reinforces the others, so it’s important to tackle them together.     

“The EU is aware of the need for global change. No one country can advance a sustainability agenda in isolation,” he said.

"It’s vital not just to stop the damage, but to start making up for the loss as well. We need to protect, restore and sustainably manage our nature, for the benefit of all," he added.    

“No country can deliver these changes alone. Europe is deeply committed to building strong international partnerships, to facilitate and accelerate the green transition,” he said.

“But we need to pick up the pace. Time is running out. We need global action – at all levels and within this decade – for a world that is climate-neutral, nature-positive and resilient,” he said.

“Today is a great opportunity for direct engagement among EU and Vietnamese stakeholders on the green transition agenda,” he added. 

The EU and Việt Nam are working together very closely on several topics on the circular economy, plastics, forests and deforestation through a voluntary partnership agreement, and on wildlife trafficking and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, according to Sinkevičius.

The conference includes a range of talks on sustainable development, energy policies, funding, knowledge-sharing initiatives and climate risk management. 

The three-day event also comprises an exhibition featuring over 150 pavilions on an area of roughly 5,000sq.m. — VNS 

Visitors at the Green Economy Forum & Exhibition 2022 which opened on Monday in HCM City. — VNS Photo Bồ Xuân Hiệp