Vietnam makes promises for the environment, despite a stubborn addiction to coal

Hanoi has vowed to follow the movement started at COP26 last year, which called for a "reduction" in the share of coal, explicitly named for the first time as a major contributor to climate change.

"But that's not really what Vietnam achieves domestically," says Nandini Das, a researcher at the think tank Climate Analytics.

The country of 98 million people is trying to turn to renewable energy to fuel its growth, one of the highest in the region, but the communist government's authoritarian policies are jeopardizing its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

Four leading environmental activists have been sent to prison this year, including Nguy Thi Khanh, who in 2018 received the Goldman prize for the environment, the "Green Nobel", sentenced to two years behind bars for tax evasion.

An accusation "invented" by the authorities, denounced several human rights organizations, in an open letter to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who visited Vietnam at the end of October.

The solar boom

"With environmental figures in prison, I think there are serious doubts about the country's ability to achieve its goals," said Michael Sutton, director of the Goldman Prize for the environment.

“Figures like Ms. Khanh are important in building public support” for greener practices, the official continues.

Behind China and India, Vietnam is the third country in the world most involved in coal-fired power plants, in terms of existing and future production capacities, according to the independent organization Climate Action Tracker.

The share of coal in its energy mix has risen from 33% in 2015 to 52% in 2021, noted the Ember think tank.

Meanwhile, solar's share jumped from 2% in 2020 to 10% the following year, one of the largest increases in the world, Ember pointed out.

Vietnam is preparing its exit from coal through investments, or subsidies for the purchase of photovoltaic panels, which have made it the tenth country in the world in terms of solar energy production capacity.

The effects of this policy are felt even in a remote village in the Mekong Delta (south), where Doan Van Tien waters his avocados, strawberries and mandarins using a hydraulic pump powered by solar batteries.

"It has changed my life a lot," said the farmer, who can now water his fruit trees without having to pay for the gasoline that powered the old generator used until then.

This change was made possible thanks to the NGO created by Nguy Thi Khanh, GreenID.

Hanoi wants to take over the dynamic. The latest climate targets published in July by the Department of the Environment are "clear and much more ambitious than (the) previous ones", remarked Thang Do, researcher in public policy at the Australian National University.

In its new strategy, the government wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 43,5% by 2030, while its previous objective was 9%. The authorities predict a peak in greenhouse gas emissions in 2035 before a drastic decline until carbon neutrality in 2050.

To change the mentalities

But it remains to be seen how Hanoi will put its intentions into practice, especially since these remain difficult to decipher, in particular because of the repression targeting activists who were contributing to its energy transition.

Dang Dinh Bach, another activist behind bars, has worked to educate residents around coal-fired power projects about the health risks posed by these projects.

"He gave them advice so that they understood their rights and could put them into practice," his wife, Tran Phuong Thao, told AFP.

Often, the inhabitants were "surprised and furious", she recalls. "People had no information about these projects."

If Vietnam is engaged in a race against the clock against climate change, which threatens its dense population concentrated along the coast due to rising waters, it is necessary to remain patient, warns Thang Do.

"The whole economy depends on coal, so it's very difficult to change things," he explains.

"It's not an easy decision to close a coal-fired power plant and then go to solar or wind power, it takes a lot of time and resources, and mentalities must also change," he insists.