Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh and representatives of the IPG Group - Mr. Thomas Wiersing, Charge d'Affaires of the EU Delegation to Vietnam and Mr. Mark George, UK Climate Counsellor, British Embassy co-chaired the workshop. Attending the workshop were representatives from embassies, the IPG Group, international financial institutions of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero Emissions (GFANZ); representatives of international organizations in Vietnam, relevant ministries, sectors and the business sector.
Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh said: The Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) is one of the solutions to help Vietnam access the necessary resources to effectively implement a low-carbon development roadmap that is resilient to climate change in the global energy transition effort; at the same time, develop new economic opportunities to support Vietnam's transition towards a net zero emissions future.
Through JETP, the partners commit to mobilizing an initial $15.5 billion over the next 3-5 years to address Vietnam’s urgent, catalytic energy transition needs. Of this, $7.75 billion will be mobilized by the IPG Group at more attractive borrowing terms than the current capital market; GFANZ will mobilize at least $7.75 billion in private finance to directly support businesses through investments from international corporations and businesses.
According to Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh, JETP is a new issue, both a political, diplomatic and economic issue; and a global partnership with the goal of ensuring equitable energy transition, technology transformation towards green transformation, emission reduction, and low-carbon economic development.
Through the JETP Declaration, international partners will help Vietnam improve policies to attract investment in energy conversion and efficiency, strengthen grid infrastructure, education and vocational training, mobilize private sector participation in developing renewable energy centers, storing, storing and using carbon, manufacturing energy storage equipment and batteries, producing green hydrogen, developing biomass power, offshore wind power, etc.
The Resource Mobilization Plan is the first step in implementing the JETP Declaration and will continue to be reviewed, adjusted and supplemented during implementation. The plan outlines a list of specific projects to mobilize finance from IPG, GFANZ and other partners.
“The financial resources committed by partners to mobilize are currently only a small part of the total demand for Vietnam’s equitable energy transition. In that sense, we need to promote the readiness of international partners to participate in the new global context, mobilize maximum resources to implement equitable energy transition, contribute to the goal of participating in the Global Declaration on the transition from coal power to clean energy and implement Vietnam’s commitments at the COP26 Conference,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.
During the drafting process, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the JETP Secretariat organized consultation workshops and in-depth discussions with relevant agencies and organizations, including ministries, sectors, international partner groups, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero Emissions, development partners, corporations, banks, and representatives of groups affected by the energy transition. Through consultations, nearly 500 comments from various parties have been sent to the JETP Secretariat to complete the Resource Mobilization Plan.
In the latest Draft, the Resource Mobilization Plan synthesizes 5 investment project groups and 3 technical assistance project groups. The list is reviewed from the content of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC); National Strategy on Climate Change; National Strategy on Green Growth; National Power Development Plan for the period 2021 - 2030, vision to 2050; approved plans, programs; policy development needs of ministries and branches in the coming time for equitable energy transition and additional proposals from IPG, GFANZ and relevant parties.
The Draft Plan also proposes priority projects to be implemented from now until 2025, including projects that have completed investment procedures according to regulations but have not yet raised capital or have not been fully funded, to be given priority consideration for funding for implementation.
Based on the policy development needs of ministries and sectors in the coming time and the proposals of IPG, GFANZ and relevant parties, the Draft provides a list of policy actions to promote a fair energy transition in the period 2024-2028, classified into 8 groups of tasks and priority levels to be implemented from now until 2028. Technical support resources within the framework of JETP are used as a priority to develop and implement these policy actions. In addition, there are some contents proposing ideas for implementing projects to implement JETP.
The draft clearly states issues on resources for implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and assigns tasks of implementation to the Secretariat for the implementation of the JETP Declaration; the Working Groups supporting the implementation of JETP; the IPG Group and ministries, branches and localities.
At the workshop, representatives of the International Partnership Group (IPG), the GFANZ Group, embassies, international organizations, and Eurocharm contributed their comments to finalize the draft Resource Mobilization Plan. According to Mr. Thomas Wiersing, the European Union's Permanent Representative to Vietnam, the great ambition to achieve net zero emissions expressed at COP26 as well as in the Vietnamese Government's Power Plan 8 clearly shows the need for specific measures for all sectors of the energy sector as well as the economy. The JETP will be an effective tool and the Resource Mobilization Plan will be the first step, outlining the ambition, direction, policy reforms and opportunities to help accelerate this process.
Sharing the same view, Mr. Mark George, UK Climate Counsellor, British Embassy, said that the resource mobilization plan is an opportunity to establish a roadmap to realize Vietnam's ambition in a fair energy transition, towards promoting growth, supporting the achievement of national socio-economic goals, enhancing energy security and competitiveness.
Ms. Ramla Khalidi, UNDP Representative in Vietnam, commented that the latest draft is more consistent with the Power Development Plan 8, NDC and Climate Change Strategy, helping Vietnam focus on the goal of net zero emissions. The UNDP representative suggested calling on central and provincial authorities to integrate JETP priorities into sectoral and provincial strategies and plans for effective implementation in the context of the ongoing annual plan for the 2024-2025 period and the upcoming medium-term investment plan for 2026-2030.
In addition, Vietnam needs to implement policy reforms to facilitate faster approval procedures and facilitate additional investments. In addition, the plan should identify the need and allocate funds to conduct necessary assessments and actions on “equity” aspects.
Concluding the workshop, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh said that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will collect comments to complete the Draft Plan and submit it to the Prime Minister in early November.
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