Attending the meeting were: Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee; Steering Committee members who are Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Government agencies; leaders of central ministries and branches.

According to the Steering Committee, immediately after attending COP26, the Government established a Steering Committee to implement Vietnam's commitments at the Conference.

Since its establishment in December 2021, the National Steering Committee has held 3 meetings, discussed and reached consensus as a basis for the Government and Prime Minister to consider and decide on many important issues.

The Prime Minister has approved the updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for 2022 in line with Vietnam's commitments at COP26 to be sent to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change... Ministers and members of the Steering Committee have directed the development of the sector's Action Plan with specific targets to implement the commitments at COP26.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the meeting.

Along with that, communication work has been directed and implemented in many practical forms, contributing significantly to the people and business community unifying awareness and accompanying the Government in implementing commitments at COP26.

The Government, the Prime Minister and ministries and sectors continue to proactively negotiate with partners and international financial institutions to promote access to financial and technological resources, open up many opportunities for development cooperation, and move towards low-carbon growth.

Vietnam has successfully negotiated the Political Declaration on the establishment of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with the G7 countries. Localities have also taken part in organizing and implementing Vietnam's commitments at the COP26 Conference, the goal of reducing net emissions to "0" by 2050, and implementing many activities at the local and grassroots levels.

Regarding the implementation of JETP, the JETP implementation project has been completed and submitted to the Prime Minister with 10 key task groups on: perfecting institutions; promoting the conversion of coal-fired power to clean energy; developing the industrial ecosystem and services on renewable energy; using energy economically and efficiently; upgrading the power transmission and distribution system, accelerating the roadmap for building smart grids and developing energy storage systems; converting to green energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector; ensuring fairness in energy transition, etc.

Concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Head of the COP26 Steering Committee, acknowledged, highly appreciated and commended the efforts of ministries, branches, localities, members of the Steering Committee and enterprises in implementing specific tasks after the 3rd meeting, towards the common goal of responsibly, effectively and practically implementing Vietnam's commitments at COP26, contributing to the country's rapid and sustainable development.

The Prime Minister also frankly pointed out that in implementing the tasks, there are still difficulties that need to be resolved, limitations that need to be learned from to do better, such as the construction and completion of a number of mechanisms and policies to prioritize green transformation and green development are still slow and not proactive, including regulations related to carbon credits, hydrogen energy, etc.

The Prime Minister said that green development, energy conversion, and emission reduction are inevitable and irreversible trends that Vietnam cannot stand outside of. This is also an opportunity to develop and restructure the economy in a green and sustainable direction.

Regarding the key tasks in the coming time, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested the Steering Committee and all levels and sectors to continue to accelerate the implementation of tasks to implement Vietnam's commitments at COP26 as stated in Decision No. 888/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister, the National Strategy on Climate Change for the period up to 2050, the National Strategy on Green Growth for the period 2021-2030 and vision to 2050, the Nationally Determined Contribution updated in 2022 and commitments at COP26.

Ministries and sectors shall promptly complete synchronous mechanisms, policies and legal documents to remove difficulties and obstacles, mobilize the participation of the whole society in implementing Vietnam's commitments at COP26; attract resources to respond to climate change and energy transition; encourage domestic and foreign organizations and individuals to participate in responding to climate change and energy transition; encourage enterprises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save energy, develop environmentally friendly production models; arrange resources to effectively implement according to the requirements of the Steering Committee.

The Prime Minister also requested relevant ministries and sectors to vigorously implement the JETP Declaration Implementation Project, develop a Plan to mobilize resources to implement JETP; proactively and actively exchange and discuss with the Group of International Partners, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero Emissions (GFANZ) and relevant parties.

The Prime Minister requested ministries managing greenhouse gas emissions such as: Industry and Trade, Construction, Transport, Agriculture and Rural Development to urgently issue detailed documents on climate change response in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020; issue sector-level greenhouse gas emission reduction plans in accordance with the provisions of Decree No. 06/2022/ND-CP; organize assessment and inventory of greenhouse gas emissions of enterprises and establishments to attach responsibility for emission reduction according to Vietnam's commitment at COP26...

The Prime Minister emphasized that ministries, sectors, localities and enterprises need to continue to further promote communication activities, create high determination, act in unity and maintain momentum in implementing Vietnam's commitments at the COP26 Conference and a fair energy transition.

*Also at the Meeting, the COP26 Steering Committee announced the Prime Minister's Decision on the establishment and launch of the Secretariat for the implementation of the Political Declaration on the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). The Secretariat is headed by Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh; the Deputy Heads and members of the Secretariat are leaders of a number of ministries, branches and central agencies.

News and photos: VNA