World Bank, UNDP Call on Vietnam to Enhance Climate Change Response

The World Bank and U.N. Development Program (UNDP) have called on Vietnam to strengthen its response to climate change by having strategic investments toward a low-carbon future amid worse climate change-caused consequences in the country. The country needs to develop concrete action plan to ensure a climate-resilient future, the two organizations said in the Climate Public Expenditure and Investment Review (CPEIR) released on May 21. The CPEIR proposes short- and long-term initiatives to further mainstream climate change into Vietnam’s policy, planning and budget cycle, and to better identify priority investments and activities to strengthen the country’s climate change response. “Mainstreaming climate change into the budget will strengthen Vietnam’s resilience against the impacts of a warming world, make communities less vulnerable, and tackle the emissions challenge as Vietnam continues its journey toward a greener, resilient and prosperous future,” said Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank Country Director for Vietnam. Vietnam’s greenhouse gas emissions and overall carbon intensity have significantly increased as a result of the economic expansion, threatening the country’s development progress. “This report helps accelerate the country’s transition to a low-carbon economy and enables the government to make decisions to help the most vulnerable people who are on the front-line of climate change,” said Louise Chamberlain, Country Director for UNDP in Vietnam. Being one of five hardest-hit countries by climate change, Vietnam needs approximately $30 billion to implement strategies on green growth by 2020. Climate change causes a loss worth between 2% and 3% of GDP annually while the country spends only 0.1% of GDP on climate change response programs. (www.worldbank.org May 21, Tin Tuc – News May 22 p7, Phap Luat Viet Nam – Vietnam Law May 22 p2)