Green e-commerce in Vietnam still faces challenges

While the overall macro policies on environmental protection and sustainable development are creating favourable conditions for green e-commerce in Vietnam, the actual implementation of green transformation still faces numerous challenges.

One key obstacle is that policies have yet to link with environmental protection requirements, according to the report on the E-commerce Green Index (ECGI), released by a research team from the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM) and the World Wide Fund (WWF) Vietnam.

Legal documents related to e-commerce rarely include specific environmental protection regulations. Instead, they primarily focus on restricting the trade of certain prohibited or conditionally permitted goods and services.

Additionally, there is a lack of coordinated action among stakeholders, including Government agencies overseeing e-commerce, logistics, postal services, environmental management, businesses and consumers.

Most online businesses are not actively engaged in environmental protection efforts due to limited awareness, increased operational costs and the absence of clear legal regulations.

This situation also affects awareness-raising efforts for businesses and consumers in the green e-commerce sector, which remains fragmented and insufficient.

Roadmap for transformation

To address these challenges, the research team has introduced the ECGI framework, which sets out criteria and a roadmap for gradually transitioning toward greener e-commerce.

The framework is designed to help businesses quickly and comprehensively identify specific environmentally friendly actions. This, in turn, enhances their reputation and business efficiency, especially as consumers are increasingly prioritizing brands that demonstrate environmental responsibility.

It is structured into six major criteria, comprising 19 sub-criteria. The first group is the commitment to deploy green e-commerce in a sustainable model. In this criterion, the research unit recommends that businesses make a clear commitment to green e-commerce businesses following a sustainable model.

The second is goods-related standards. This includes two sub-criteria, which are prohibiting the sale of environmental products banned by law and ensuring compliance with regulations governing restricted and conditionally permitted products.

The third group of criteria is order fulfilment services. It encompasses several sub-criteria, including avoiding the use of plastic packaging and materials prohibited by law, limiting the use of plastic packaging and other environmentally harmful materials in order fulfilment, prioritizing eco-friendly packaging and managing warehouses and delivery operations sustainably.

It is essential to encourage and assist customers in reducing or eliminating the use of single-use plastics, promote low-carbon delivery options and facilitate consumer feedback on businesses’ environmental protection activities.

Following are internal green commitments. The research team proposed the need for environmental protection policies, energy saving and the integration of renewable energy sources into their operations.

The final group of criteria is researching and implementing green business models. This includes promoting circular economy practices, developing responsible business guidelines for consumer protection in e-commerce and adopting the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI) for e-commerce enterprises.

Vietnam’s e-commerce market is projected to grow at an average annual rate of over 20% between 2024 and 2030, reaching approximately $90 billion by 2030, according to VECOM. While this growth brings economic benefits, it also exerts increasing pressure on the environment.

The rising volume of plastic waste from packaging and greenhouse gas emissions from delivery operations have surged alongside the sector’s rapid expansion. Addressing these environmental concerns is crucial to ensuring that Vietnam’s e-commerce industry develops sustainably.