Foreign Partners Support Vietnam Energy Saving Programs

International organizations have helped Vietnam promote energy saving programs to enable the country to implement its target to cut by between 8% and 25% of greenhouse emissions by 2030 as pledged by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in November 2015. On Jan 14, the Ministry of Industry and Trade held a conference on promoting the use of energy-saving industrial boilers under the support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The two sides are conducting a project on energy saving and greenhouse emission reduction through the operation of effective industrial boilers from November 2015 to October 2019. Vietnam is estimated to save roughly 467,000 tons of oil equivalent (toe) in a decade beginning 2019 thanks to the influence of the project. The project would help Vietnam improves its competitiveness thanks to reduced energy cost and less environment pollution. On the same day, Ho Chi Minh City Energy Conservation Center (ECC-HCMC) cooperated with Japan-based E&E Solutions Inc. to open a conference on energy saving and fluorocarbons (FCs) management to speed up energy saving programs in Vietnam’s biggest city. The move is aimed to help the city save energy amid rapid urbanization and development of industrial parks in line with the joint crediting mechanism (JCM) between Vietnam and Japan. JCM aims to encourage investment in low-carbon technologies. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te Vietnam – Vietnam Economic Times Jan 15 p2, 13)