Vietnam Signs Paris Climate Deal, Committing to Lower Carbon Emissions

Vietnam has signed The Paris Agreement which marks the participation of 175 countries, including 34 nations representing 49% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Vietnamese Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha attended the high-profile signing ceremony at the United Nations last weekend, calling on all countries to exert highest efforts to implement their Intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) to achieve the objectives of the Paris climate deal. In his speech in New York on April 22, Mr. Ha recommended mechanism on finance, technology and capacity to fully coping with climate change. “Thirdly, developed countries must demonstrate their leadership by not only fulfilling commitments in their INDCs but also mobilizing and providing financial resources for technology development and transfer and capacity building for developing countries to implement their INDCs and non-regret projects, in both adaptation and mitigation,” the minister said. “By signing the Paris Agreement on Apr 25, Vietnam reaffirms its commitments to combat climate change,” he said. ABC Australia has said that Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam is one of the world’s most vulnerable cities to climate change and that other Vietnamese cities are also at risk to climate impacts such as severe flooding. Vietnam has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 8% by 2030. (Baochinhphu.vn April 23, www.vtr.org.vn April 25)