Viêt Nam

Countries in Asia and the Pacific face a heightened risk of flooding as disasters increase worldwide due to climate change. Yet these countries often lack the infrastructure necessary to prepare for and respond to floods effectively. When flood protection measures exist, they generally rely only on grey, hard-engineered infrastructure, which has been increasingly challenged in recent years. Nature-based solutions (NbS) offer a new approach for flood management, with several co-benefits beyond the reduction of risks. This approach has gained recognition from policy makers in the region, but they are confronted with a number of challenges, including the lack of a clear, common definition and guidelines, as well as financing issues. The growing imperatives of climate adaptation call for complementary, innovative and forward-looking solutions, such as a combined approach incorporating both NbS and grey infrastructure.

Viet Nam has become a leading regional market for renewable energy in a short space of time led by private sector investment facilitated by favourable support mechanisms. Maintaining market growth sustainably while integrating higher shares of variable generation will be a key challenge for Viet Nam’s policy makers over the next decade as the post-pandemic economic recovery builds momentum. Viet Nam's economy also remains highly energy intensive and energy efficiency improvement has the potential to unlock multiple economic benefits with further market interventions. The Clean Energy Finance and Investment Policy Review of Viet Nam provides a comprehensive overview of the current policy framework, highlighting progress and identifying untapped opportunities for strengthening policy interventions that can help scale up clean energy finance and investment. It also provides a number of tailored recommendations for the Government of Viet Nam and development partners. The Review was undertaken within the OECD Clean Energy Finance and Investment Mobilisation (CEFIM) Programme, which supports governments in emerging economies to unlock finance and investment in clean energy.

Viet Nam’s sustained economic development is driving increasing demand for electricity with generation capacity predicted to nearly double over the next decade. With the majority of economic hydropower resources utilised, delays in coal power pipelines, and increasing energy insecurity, Viet Nam has pivoted its electricity sector development plans to further prioritize the deployment of wind and solar generation. A clean energy transition such as this can deliver multiple social and economic benefits related to cost reductions, improved energy security, and public health. This working paper was prepared to support least-cost energy sector planning in Viet Nam particularly for the upcoming Viet Nam Energy Outlook 2021 (VEO21) being prepared in partnership between Viet Nam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) and the Danish Energy Agency (DEA). This working paper discusses the use of discounting in energy models and the potential impact discount rate selection may have on a model’s cost-optimised technology selections. The paper also analyses the clean energy finance environment in Viet Nam to identify opportunities for policy levers to reduce the prevailing cost of capital and how these cost implications can be tested in the VEO21 modelling exercise. The main outputs of this working paper are two sets of model inputs, an estimate for an appropriate social discount rate and secondly a set of high and low financial hurdle rates for renewable energy technologies for use in sensitivity or scenario analysis.

Wildlife crime poses a serious and irrefutable risk to global biodiversity and is a driver of the current global extinction crisis. Southeast Asia accounts for up to a quarter of global demand for illegal wildlife products, and is also both a source and transit region for this transnational trade. This report examines the governance frameworks for countering illegal wildlife trade in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. After assessing the effectiveness of several responses to wildlife crime in these countries, the report provides recommendations for strengthening the capacities of the institutions involved and improving strategies to counter illegal wildlife trade.

Asian cities are particularly vulnerable to risks associated with natural disasters. While they are exposed to various types of natural hazards, flooding and other water-related disasters pose particularly significant risks and undermine long-term economic growth, especially in coastal cities. Managing such natural disaster risks is an essential component of urban policies in fast-growing Southeast Asian cities, especially as the impacts of climate change worsen. In addition to providing a framework for assessing disaster risk management policies in cities, this report also presents the results of assessment and locally tailored policy recommendations in five cities of different institutional, geographic, socio-economic and environmental contexts in Southeast Asia. They include Bandung (Indonesia), Bangkok (Thailand), Cebu (Philippines), Hai Phong (Viet Nam) and Iskandar (Malaysia). The study highlights that Southeast Asian cities are largely underprepared for natural disaster risks. Through an assessment of disaster risk management (DRM) policies at national and subnational levels, the study aims to enhance urban resilience by: i) identifying policy challenges related to DRM ; ii) assessing the impacts of current DRM policy practices; and iii) proposing more efficient and effective policy options to enhance urban resilience.

This report provides a comprehensive assessment of Viet Nam’s urban policies and analyses how national spatial planning for urban areas, along with specific sectoral policies, directly and indirectly affect Viet Nam’s urban development. It points to a number of policy areas which Viet Nam can tap into, in order to fully capitalise on the unique opportunities that its urbanisation process may bring about, including urban transport, housing, land, the quality of urban environment, and urban green growth. The review also assesses the efficiency and effectiveness of current urban governance arrangements, and makes recommendations for Viet Nam to develop an attractive and well-managed system of large and medium-sized cities, thereby contributing to achieving its sustainable development objectives.