Continue support for scaling up Vietnam’s eco-industrial parks: official

Capacity building and strong coordination play a significant role in advancing the government’s green growth and circular economy agenda, a government official said Friday.

Le Thanh Quan, director general of the Department of Economic Zones Management under the Ministry of Planning (MPI) and Investment and national director of the Eco-industrial Park Intervention in Vietnam project, was speaking at the project’s closing ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City.

The project was funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in collaboration with the MPI.

Quan emphasized the project’s role in advocating the eco-industrial park approaches, aligning with national strategies such as the National Green Growth Strategy for 2021-2030, circular economy and achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

He proposed continued support to scale up eco-industrial parks in the future, the development of an information system for eco-industrial park evaluation, certification and monitoring, and the establishment of a mechanism for public private dialogue.

Sibylle Bachmann, head of cooperation at the Swiss embassy, also stressed the crucial role of the project in enabling sustainable and prosperous industrial development in Vietnam.

With support from the Eco-Industrial Park Program, Vietnam has put in place relevant regulations and decrees on industrial solid waste management, wastewater reuse, and recycling. The aim of upcoming project support provided by Switzerland through UNIDO will be to put these policies into practice, she said.

She also highlighted the importance of policies that enable the adaptation of innovative technological solutions related to circular economy models and leverage private sector’s commitment to green investments.

In addition, the program is developing Eco-Industrial Park standards and indicators based on international best practices, which will serve as an essential tool for monitoring the performance of industrial parks, she added.

Five years, five provinces

The Eco-industrial Park Intervention in Vietnam (GEIPP-Vietnam) project, with a total budget of $1.82 million, was piloted from 2020 to 2024 in five localities: HCMC, Can Tho, Dong Nai, Danang and Hai Phong.

The industrial parks selected for project intervention were the Amata Industrial Park, Deep C Industrial Park, and Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park. In addition, technical support was provided to the industrial parks involved in a previous UNIDO project: the Tra Noc 1&2 Industrial Parks and the Hoa Khanh Industrial Park.

The project aimed to demonstrate solutions for improving economic, environmental and social efficiency of the industrial sector and integrate development regulations into relevant mechanisms and policies.

MPI and UNIDO collaborated to support the transformation of existing industrial parks into eco-industrial parks, resulting in significant 603 resource efficiency and cleaner production (RECP) solutions identified.

Of these, 217 were implemented by 88 enterprises, leading to substantial savings of VND69.2 billion ($2.9 million) per year through reduced energy, resources and materials consumption, not to mention a reduction of 8,910 tons of CO2/year.

The eco-industrial parks (EIP) transformation has resulted in economic, social and environmental efficiency and mobilized large resources from the private sector for green industrial solutions. It has also ensured energy security and sustainable development, constituting an efficient climate change mitigation and adaptation response.

Hoang Anh Phu, from the MPI's Department of Economic Zones Management and the project coordinator, said that the industrial parks, including Deep C in Hai Phong city, Amata in Bien Hoa city (Dong Nai province) and Hiep Phuoc in HCMC, have made significant progress in deploying the eco-industrial park model.

However, additional support and appropriate mechanisms (including financial ones) are needed to replicate this model, he added.

Phuc said the IPs where the project was implemented were moving closer to the goal of transitioning to eco-industrial parks, with many improvements in industrial park management, economy, society, and environment.

The level of compliance with the criteria of the International Framework for Eco-industrial Parks for all pilot industrial parks has increased over the last five years. However, despite the improvements, no industrial park has fully met requirements for an international standard eco-industrial park, he added.