British Ambassador to Vietnam Gareth Ward

Under the IPCC high-emission scenario, it is projected that by the end of this century, the average temperature in Vietnam could increase by 3.7°C and the sea level could rise by up to 95cm. This would mean that about 22 million Vietnamese would lose their homes and 45% of agricultural land in the Mekong Delta would be submerged in seawater.

The UK has long accepted the argument for bold policies in this area. The UK’s Climate Change Act – the first piece of legislation in the world to introduce legally binding emissions targets –came in to force 10 years ago.This week we are holding a‘Green Great Britain’ campaign to raise awareness of the urgency of the challenge.   

The opportunity of clean growth

For the UK, clean growth means growing our national income while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. We are investing more than £2.5 billion in low carbon innovation as part of the largest increase in public spending on science, research and innovation in over three decades.  This is helping us lead the world in technologies like wind power, carbon capture, smart grids and hydrogen fuel cells.

Cutting emissions can accelerate growth. Since 1990 UK emissions are down by more than 40%, whilst there are now almost 400,000 people working in low carbon businesses and their supply chains, from the innovators creating better, more efficient batteries to the factories putting them in less polluting cars. The low carbon economy in the UK is predicted to grow by up to 11 per cent a year up to 2030 – four times faster than the rest of the economy.

London already leads the world in green finance to mobilise the resources that will be needed to deliver the global transition. Just weeks ago the world’s largest offshore windfarm opened in the UK, and during the recent summer period we generated record levels of solar power. We will stop generating power from coal by 2025, putting us ahead of most OECD nations.  We want to help other countries plan their own post coal transition through the Powering Past Coal Alliance, which now numbers over 70 members with coal phase out dates, including global businesses, states and cities.

UK in partnership with Vietnam

Vietnam should be commended for ratifying the Paris Agreement, for developing a Green Growth Strategy and committing to increase emission reduction targets.  Meanwhile, the cost of renewable energy is falling, with Vietnam having huge potential for solar, wind and biomass. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimates that by 2020 renewable energy will be competitive with or cheaper than fossil fuels worldwide.We encourage countries such as Vietnam, that are currently considering investment in long-term coal generation projects, to look again at renewables.

With our support, Vietnam has been fine-tuning its newly-established national greenhouse gas inventory system and using Vietnam 2050 Calculator to review National Determined Contributions for its energy sector. We are excited to be launching new regional programmes in 2019 focused on energy efficiency, green finance and leveraging private sector investment into sustainable infrastructure projects in the energy and transport sectors in Vietnam.

Clean growth is arguably the greatest economic opportunity in human history with strong benefits for jobs, health and the environment. A Power Development Plan that offers incentives for energy efficiency will aide Vietnam’s shift to clean growth. A Plan that brings together energy sector and power pricing reform, phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies, incentives for greater private sector financing and access to a transparent and competitive energy market.

As we heard from the IPCC last week, all countries must urgently innovate, transform and raise ambition if we are to have a chance of reducing the devastating impacts of climate change.