Vietnam yet to receive anything from $15.5-bln energy transition initiative JETP: deputy minister

International partners have committed to mobilizing $15.5 billion to finance Vietnam’s green transition under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) launched in December 2022, but Vietnam is yet to receive any loan from this facility.

Deputy Minister of Finance Vo Thanh Hung revealed this at a Wednesday meeting with Norwegian Ambassador to Vietnam Hilde Solbakken.

He said the JETP has assessed that Vietnam needed $135 billion to implement its energy transition, including $15.5 billion from the International Partners Group (IPG) comprising the EU, the UK, the U.S, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, Norway, and Denmark.

Vietnam also needs support related to technology transfer, human resources training and technical assistance, Hung said, while reiterating that the country needs more financial support and flexible loans.

Vietnam had announced its JETP implementation plan at COP28 in 2023 with 273 electricity projects for the business sector, Hung noted, urging the government-run Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) to check the portfolio and arrange capital for some projects.

Ambassador Hilde Solbakken lauded Vietnam’s green transition progress, including the draft amendment to its excise tax law, which would discourage utilization of high-emission materials.

Norway has many mechanisms to finance green transition via multilateral channels such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and the country is committed to helping Vietnam’s energy transition progress per the JETP, she said.

Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a conference of the national steering committee on implementing Vietnam’s COP26 commitments.

Referring to the JETP commitments and slow implementation, Chinh asked relevant agencies to improve the working mechanism with effective innovations.

Digitalization, energy transition, and green transition are imminent development paths and Vietnam is striving to mobilize domestic and international resources for the task, he said.