Vietnam industrial parks need to up renewables, phase out fossil fuels: expert

Increasing renewables use, eliminating coal-fired electricity and effecting energy savings are among eight steps Vietnam’s factories and industrial parks need to take towards meeting the nation’s net zero emissions target.

Vietnam has committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Tran Thien Long, standing vice president of the Vietnam Industrial Real Estate Association (VIREA), laid out the eight measures at a conference on "Green innovation for factories and industrial parks - Going with the flow for sustainable development."

The event was organized in HCMC on Thursday by the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of Ho Chi Minh City (ITPC) and innovation connection platform BambuUP.

The first of eight measures that factories and industrial parks need to take by 2030 is to increase solar and wind power capacity by 13.5 times to 500 gigawatts.

Secondly, they need to eliminate coal-fired power. Thirdly, they should maintain natural gas power generation capacity to ensure reliable, stable supply.

Fourthly and fifthly, they should increase the use of zero-emission vehicles and transportation to 50% and also increase the number of heat pumps to 50%. They should also research carbon capture and carbon neutral fuels, and build a power transmission system as well as a CO2 and hydrogen gas pipeline, Long said.

Last but not least, all new buildings and equipment should strictly meet energy saving standards, he added

Nguyen Huong Quynh, CEO of the innovation connection platform BambuUP, said at the event that the global green and sustainable technology market, including areas such as renewable energy and wastewater treatment technology, is expected to reach a value of $61.92 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 20.8% (per data from the Global Green Technology and Sustainability Market).

Green transformation needs to become an urgent strategy for manufacturing enterprises to improve their competitiveness, attract green investment, and ensure sustainable impacts in an unpredictable world, Quynh said.

He mentioned five green manufacturing transformation trends: energy optimization, sustainable product production, waste reduction and recycling, smart technology enhancement, and a lean manufacturing approach.

Tran Anh Dong, director of CAS-Energy, a company specializing in providing services to green industrial parks and factories, said green transformation puts manufacturing enterprises in a difficult position in many ways, including finances and resource access as well as a lack of support policies, especially in the initial stages. Some solutions that his company provides to enterprises include building renewable energy systems, planting trees and accessing green credit, he said.

Dong told The Investor that CAS-Energy has helped many customers, including Mobile World Group, green their retail chains by installing solar energy and waste treatment plants.