Hanoi workshop to promote circular economy development

The Investor will organize a workshop on Vietnam’s policy to encourage and support enterprises in developing a circular economy in Hanoi on Wednesday.

The event aims to raise corporate awareness and social responsibility towards this major policy, serving as a forum for sharing ideas to help adopt a circular economy model and promote its application in Vietnam, one of the world’s fastest expanding economies.

Among the participants will be representatives from the ministries of: Planning and Investment; Natural Resources and Environment; Finance, Industry and Trade; Agriculture and Rural Development; Science and Technology; and the General Department of Taxation. Economists, environmental experts, representatives of business associations and companies, domestic and foreign, will also attend the workshop.

On June 7, 2022, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh issued Decision No.687 on "Developing a circular economy in Vietnam". The decision sees actively developing a circular economy as an inevitable trend that requires breakthroughs in the economic recovery process and the implementation of sustainable development goals.

The PM’s decision prioritizes the issuance of long-term policies to facilitate development of a circular economy by raising corporate awareness and social responsibility, promoting enterprises’ proactive response and encouraging individuals to live a responsible life for the community and society.

To embrace a circular economy, the government has set out several goals, including reducing greenhouse emissions by at least 15% by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. By 2030, circular economy projects would become the main driving force in reducing primary energy consumption; the rate of daily-life solid waste collected and treated under circular economy standards would reach 50%; all urban organic waste and 70% of rural organic waste would be recycled.

The government, ministries, and state agencies are currently studying and developing mechanisms and policies to encourage development of a circular economy.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment, for instance, is coordinating with other ministries and localities to formulate a decree on a pilot mechanism for circular economy development that can be submitted to the government for consideration in the first quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is working out a framework of instructions on circular economy development, and amending rules and regulations to encourage enterprises to shift their business operations towards the new model.

According to a report released by the Central Institute for Economic Management a few weeks ago, a number of companies in Vietnam have started to shift to a circular economy from a linear one. However, without proper policies, not many enterprises are likely to take this up

“The event will focus on discussing, proposing policies and solutions to support enterprises in developing a circular economy,” said Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Editor-in-Chief of The Investor, adding that ideas raised at the forum would lend greater voice to the government’s efforts in this regard.

Worldwide, a circular economy model is considered as a way an economy can use sustainable and natural materials to produce, reuse, recycle and restart with added raw materials. It is based on the idea that humankind can continue to operate as a developed economy using only natural and sustainable materials, over and over, until it becomes part of the earth.