HCMC best locality to pilot green economy: deputy prime minister

At the Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum 2023 on Friday, Khai said green growth is a development model that ensures harmony between economic growth and environmental sustainability, including response to climate change, effective use of resources, and a balance between the goals of reducing emissions and growing the economy.

He said that among the 63 cities and provinces across Vietnam, HCMC has the largest economic scale, contributing one-fifth of the national GDP, more than a quarter of budget revenue, and is the leaders in attracting FDI and import-export, accounting for nearly 30% of the total number of businesses nationwide.

The top legislature has passed a resolution on giving the city special mechanisms for development. But the city also emits the largest greenhouse gas emissions, some 57.6 million tons a year, or 23.3% of the country’s total. "Basically, the city’s economy has mainly developed in a linear direction and has not been greened," he said.

He requested the ministries of Finance, Planning and Investment, Natural Resources and Environment, and other relevant ministries, to expedite policies on developing green enterprises.

Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen said the city’s traditional economic growth model is no longer the optimal choice, so city leaders are now completing a strategic framework on green development through 2030 with a vision to 2050.

Pham Binh An, deputy director of the HCMC Institute for Development Studies, which is participating in building the strategic framework, said that in recent years the city’s economy has slowed, so it is necessary to find new growth motivators, including green economy and digital economy.

According to An, two important areas that need to be transformed are energy and transportation.
HCMC’s solar power supply accounts for very little, and selling prices of renewable energy are not high enough to attract investors.

Meanwhile, HCMC has few electric personal vehicles and buses, and its green consumer market is still small.

Jeremy Jurgens, executive director of the World Economic Forum (WEF), said Vietnam’s manufacturing industry has committed to being carbon neutral by 2050, but only some 10% of GDP has been invested in this effort. He argued that the application of artificial intelligence will accelerate the process.

At the forum, WEF and HCMC announced cooperation under which WEF will establish a center for the fourth industrial revolution (C4IR) in the city. This will be a new member of the WEF’s global network of C4IR.