Plan to Move Vietnam to Carbon Neutrality Faces Hurdles
HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM — Vietnam’s long-awaited national power development plan, aimed at achievement of carbon neutrality by 2050, was approved by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on May 16, but faces obstacles in implementation and funding.
Delayed by more than two years, the plan, known as PDP8, for Power Development Plan 8, sets goals for 2030 with an eye toward the 2050 deadline. PDP8 would require $134.7 billion in funding for new power plants and grids to meet 2030 targets. To completely phase coal out by 2050, the government estimates $658 billion is needed.
Implementation, funding, and a governmentwide commitment to phase out coal face difficulties.
The plan “is a big challenge,” Hanoi-based Ha Hoang Hop, associate senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, wrote via WhatsApp, adding that it “can be implemented well only with a restructure of the whole of Vietnam’s energy sector.”
Govi Snell
