Ho Chi Minh City projected to trade in carbon market

Acting together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

To implement actions that cut greenhouse gas emissions, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee issued the city’s Paris Agreement Implementation Plan in 2020. The plan lays out the programs and projects that the city needs to carry out from 2020 to 2030. It includes 56 programs grouped into three main areas: reducing emissions, adapting to climate change, and preparing the resources needed to deliver these goals.

These programs and projects span nearly every aspect of urban life. They range from sectors with large emission-reduction potential, such as transport, energy, agriculture, construction, and waste management, to areas where the impact may be smaller but highly meaningful, such as developing model urban areas that integrate climate-resilience measures.

The plan also includes research on drought-tolerant rice and crop varieties, the use of solar energy in rural areas, the development of green tourism models, the promotion of non-fired building materials, and stronger communication and education efforts in schools and within the community about climate impacts and emission-reduction measures.

Once fully implemented, Ho Chi Minh City’s Paris Plan is expected to contribute not only to lower greenhouse-gas emissions, reduced carbon output, and the city’s transition toward renewable and green energy but also to a major shift in public awareness and community participation in climate action.

However, according to the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the city faces two major challenges: a shortage of funding and investors for large infrastructure projects, and a lack of experienced international consultants for scientific and technical research programs. These are also areas where the city hopes to receive stronger support and participation from international investors and experts.

Potential for carbon-credit trading and sales

Since early 2022, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has been working closely with the World Bank to establish a joint working group on the city’s comprehensive and sustainable development. This group includes eight technical teams responsible for developing eight component proposals, one of which focuses on low-carbon development.

The low-carbon technical team is tasked with building a roadmap to help Ho Chi Minh City become a low-carbon urban area and recommending key actions to support the city’s sustainable socio-economic development. The team also works on an investment program for priority sectors.

This includes a list of potential cooperation projects between Ho Chi Minh City and the World Bank for 2022-2025, with a vision to 2030. The team proposes approaches, timelines, and implementation plans for each project, helps resolve policy bottlenecks with central ministries, and mobilizes financial and technical support from the World Bank and other partners.

The results of this cooperation have been highlighted at two low-carbon conferences in 2022 and at the city’s Investment Promotion Conference in 2023, where support was secured from the World Bank, the Netherlands, and Sweden for Ho Chi Minh City’s low-carbon urban program. Priority areas include LED street lighting, rooftop solar power, and the transition to electric vehicles.

Even so, experts believe the city still has many sectors with untapped carbon-reduction and carbon-credit potential. These include improving the quality of Can Gio Forest, expanding metro and electric-bus systems, upgrading waste-treatment plants, and applying energy-saving systems in high-rise buildings, especially in the private sector. These are also the areas where the city hopes to attract investment from international partners, including those from the United States.

At present, Ho Chi Minh City continues to call for investment in sectors with strong potential to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and carbon output, including Can Gio Forest, rooftop solar systems for hospitals and industrial parks, and waste-treatment plants. The city is also seeking support in consulting and research for emission-reduction solutions, training human resources for carbon-credit trading, and improving management capacity for carbon-market development, particularly within the private sector.

In the Mekong Delta, after two years of implementing the “One Million Hectares of High-Quality, Low Emission Rice” program, results have been highly positive. A total of 354,840 ha have applied the technical protocol, reaching 197% of the target, with more than 200,000 farmers taking part.

The pilot models have helped cut production costs by 8.2 to 24.2%, increase yields by 2.4 to 7%, and raise farmers’ incomes by 12 to 50%. At the same time, greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 2 to 12 tons of CO2/ha, and rice-straw burning has been minimized, contributing significantly to environmental protection.