Vietnam Needs $30B for Green Growth from Now to 2020: Official

Vietnam needs roughly $30 billion for green growth from now to 2020, an official said at an international conference in Hanoi recently. The government should encourage the participation of the private sector and foreign partners in Vietnam’s green growth, Dr. Pham Hoang Mai from the Ministry of Planning and Investment said at the event. The government needs to ask for more financial and technical support through clean development mechanism (CDM) and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) from foreign organizations and funds, Mr. Mai said. Vietnam, one of five countries hardest hit by climate change, has invested about $1 billion in climate change response, including green growth, annually in a bid to promote environmentally-friendly industrial and agricultural development. (Thoibaotaichinhvietnam.vn March 13)