Vietnam Environmental Policy Dialogue

Attending the 8th Vietnam - Japan Environmental Policy Dialogue, on the side of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam, there were Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh and representatives of the leaders of the units under the Ministry. On the side of Japan, there were Mr. Yagi Tetsuya, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Environment of Japan, Mr. Watanabe Shige - Deputy Ambassador - Minister of the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam Le Cong Thanh and Mr. Yagi Tetsuya, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Environment of Japan signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam and the Ministry of Environment of Japan on environmental cooperation.

Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh expressed his honor to welcome Minister of State Yagi Tetsuya and colleagues from the Japanese Ministry of Environment to co-chair and attend the 8th Vietnam - Japan Environmental Policy Dialogue.

The Deputy Minister shared that the Vietnam - Japan Policy Dialogue has been regularly organized by the two Ministries for many years. This 8th session marks an important milestone in the cooperation process between the two Ministries when the Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2020 has expired for 3 years. "We organize this session as an opportunity to discuss and continue to open a new phase in cooperation between the two Ministries in the fields of environment, climate change and plastic waste reduction" - the Deputy Minister said.

*Strengthening cooperation in climate change adaptation

Appreciating the relationship between Vietnam and Japan, including the Japanese Ministry of Environment and the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Mr. Yagi Tetsuya, Secretary of State for the Japanese Ministry of Environment, commented that the cooperation between the two ministries in recent times has achieved specific and practical results, especially in the field of environment and climate change adaptation.

That is Vietnam's participation in the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) proposed by the Japanese Government to implement bilateral cooperation with developing countries. To date, more than 40 projects related to the JCM have been implemented in Vietnam, contributing to enhancing Vietnam's capacity to implement Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and promoting the process of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr. Yagi Tetsuya, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Environment of Japan, discussed with Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh about priority cooperation contents in the coming time.

Appreciating Japan's initiative on the JCM, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh shared that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is researching to advise the Vietnamese Government on strengthening carbon credit management in Vietnam. The competent agencies of the two ministries also reviewed and proposed amendments and supplements to the Rules and Guidelines for the implementation of the JCM in Vietnam in accordance with the regulations of the two countries and internationally in the 2021-2030 period, ensuring contributions to commitments under the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and global sustainable development goals.

With the goal of the "Paris Agreement Article 6 Implementation Partnership (A6IP)" initiative initiated by the Japanese Minister of Environment in November 2022 at COP27, the Deputy Minister said that participating in this mechanism will help Vietnam learn a lot of experience to perfect Vietnam's institutions and legal policies; identify support needs, build necessary processes and procedures and create a foundation for more cooperation opportunities with countries participating in the Paris Agreement.

After receiving the official approval of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment sent a notification letter to the Initiative's focal point of the Japanese Ministry of the Environment and registered participation information on the official website of the Initiative, which was authorized by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment to be hosted by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) of Japan.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment proposed that the Japanese Ministry of Environment support training and technical guidance on reporting and evaluating the implementation of Article 6. At the same time, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is currently developing a project to establish a carbon market in Vietnam, which will be piloted in 2025 and officially put into operation in 2028. “This is a very new issue for Vietnam. We hope that the Japanese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will share with us its previous experience in this activity,” said Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh.

Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh hopes that the Japanese Ministry of Environment will always support and accompany the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Discussing the content of climate change adaptation, Mr. Yagi Tetsuya, Secretary of State for the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, informed that the Ministry of the Environment of Japan is making efforts to apply early warning measures in countries in the Asia-Pacific region through the public-private partnership model. Talking to Mr. Yagi Tetsuya, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh said that Vietnam is always actively interested in developing solutions for the early warning system for natural disasters. Vietnam encourages Japanese enterprises to participate in the hydrometeorological service market in Vietnam.

*Join hands to solve pollution

Regarding the issue of plastic waste pollution, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh shared: The Japanese Ministry of Environment has provided equipment for investigation, survey and analysis of ocean plastic waste; supported capacity building through training courses and the organization of seminars on ocean plastic waste in Vietnam and ASEAN countries. The Deputy Minister hopes that in the coming time, the Japanese Ministry of Environment will continue to support and cooperate with Vietnam on these contents, especially in the current context, Vietnam is promoting the implementation of the Strategy for sustainable development of Vietnam's marine economy to 2030, with a vision to 2045. This includes the task of the National Action Plan on ocean plastic waste management to 2030.

Regarding waste management, according to Mr. Yagi Tetsuya, Japan has supported Vietnam in equipping infrastructure such as waste treatment plants for power generation and developing regulations for appropriate waste treatment. Continuing this effort, next March, Japan will hold a technical dialogue to come up with specific cooperation contents. By the fall of 2024, the two sides will organize the Asia-Pacific 3R circular economy forum.

Appreciating the results of cooperation between the two sides, the clearest evidence of which is the construction of the Waste-to-Energy Plant in Bac Ninh, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh proposed that Japan provide further support to Vietnam in the management of electronic waste and the collection and treatment of minerals in this type of waste. In addition, Vietnam also needs support in the treatment of solar panels after their useful life has expired.

Regarding air and water pollution, it is known that in 2023, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment cooperated with the East Asia Acid Deposition Monitoring Network (EANET) to implement a research project on low-cost sensors (LCS) manufactured in Japan to expand applications in air quality monitoring. The Deputy Minister hopes that Japan will help Vietnam continue to participate in and promote the development of activities of the East Asia Acid Deposition Monitoring Network (EANET) in the direction of expanding the scope and diversifying the forms of operation; gradually moving towards controlling and improving the air pollution problem in the region through research projects, training, capacity building in air quality management; cooperating in research and application of new monitoring technologies and equipment to develop the air quality monitoring network in both width (number of stations) and depth (types of pollutants).

Many cooperation contents were discussed specifically and reached consensus between the two sides.

In addition, the Deputy Minister proposed that Japan support the contents related to air environment control, including: inventory of emission sources (from major emission sources such as traffic, industrial production, construction, agriculture, and people's lives); enhancing the capacity of some organizations and units in measuring emissions from two-wheeled motorbikes; modernizing the automatic and continuous ambient air environment monitoring system, etc.

The two sides will facilitate and promote joint cooperation in the fields of environment and climate change adaptation.

Regarding water pollution treatment, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh said that the Law on Water Resources has just been amended and will take effect from July 1, 2024. The new law pays special attention to solving pollution in heavily polluted river sections and streams. “The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will take the lead in coordinating with ministries, branches and localities to develop projects to overcome this situation. The Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment hopes that Japan will provide valuable experiences and experts to support the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in implementing the above projects,” the Deputy Minister proposed.

Respectfully acknowledging the comments of Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh, Mr. Yagi Tetsuya, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Environment of Japan affirmed that the Ministry of Environment of Japan is always ready to cooperate and accompany the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam in carrying out activities to protect the environment and adapt to climate change.

Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh and Mr. Yagi Tetsuya, Secretary of State for the Environment of Japan signed the Memorandum of Understanding.

* On this occasion, representatives of the two Ministries, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Le Cong Thanh and Mr. Yagi Tetsuya, Secretary of State for the Ministry of Environment of Japan signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen, facilitate and promote joint cooperation in the environmental field, reaffirming the importance of actions to quickly and successfully implement the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)./.

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Cooperation activities may be carried out through the following mutually agreed areas related to environmental protection and climate change response:
1. Climate change: adaptation and response; Measurement, reporting, verification (MRV); Decarbonization technologies;
2. Environment: Waste management including e-waste and circular economy; marine plastic waste and plastic pollution; water and air pollution; environmental technology, environmental protection against chemical pollution; environmental impact assessment;
3. Environmentally sustainable city;
4. Biodiversity conservation;
5. Other areas of environmental protection and improvement may be agreed upon by both parties.

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