The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Nordic Development Fund are to help Vietnam draw up and implement climate change action plans for cities and government departments, it was announced this week.
The Nordic Development Fund will provide a technical assistance grant of $2.5m (£1.5m) to be administered by the ADB, which will be used to help the cities of Ho Chi Minh and Da Nang, as well as the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministries of Industry and Trade develop formal strategies for addressing rising climate change risks. The government of Vietnam will also provide $250,000 towards the scheme.
Ayumi Konishi, ADB country director for Vietnam, said the finance is much needed. “This project will help increase the capacity of the target cities, ministries and province to respond effectively to the impacts of climate change,” he said.
The project will fund impact assessments to identify the risks to economic sectors and communities from climate change, and will also explore various mitigation and adaptation options.
In addition, it will fund climate change community awareness campaigns and the creation of an emissions database which will be regularly updated.
The project is due to begin in May 2011 and will be completed by May 2013.
The initiative is the latest in a series of measures from Vietnam’s government designed to help the country develop low-carbon infrastructure.
For example, last year the country announced a plan to develop solar, wind and biomass resources as part of a plan to become a low-carbon economy by 2020. The government also set a target of generating five per cent of the nation’s electricity from alternative energy sources by 2020.
It estimates Vietnam has 1,000GW of potential wind capacity and hopes to develop 12GW of wind power by 2020, accounting for about three per cent of the country’s total generation.
In addition, the country is aiming to produce 8GW of biomass power from rice husk, sugarcane, cassava, wood and animal waste by 2020.
Vietnam also plans to build 14 nuclear reactors by 2030 as part of its move to a low-carbon economy.
Last year it signed a $5.6bn deal with Russia for help building Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant and increasing its hydroelectric capacity, while a similar $14bn deal will see two Japanese firms build two 1GW nuclear reactors in the south-eastern province of Ninh Thuan.
