Special edition  » The climate for change

Japan is ready to cooperate with Vietnam in the fight against climate change, confirms Japanese ambassador to Vietnam Mitsuo Sakaba.

Can you introduce the focus of Japanese assistance to Vietnam in tackling climate change?

According to a World Bank report released in 2007, Vietnam is one of the countries to be hardest hit by climate change. The Vietnamese government has set up the National Target Programme to Respond to Climate Change (NTP) and we have been discussing with Vietnam about how Japan can cooperate to implement this programme. We have been selecting four main targeted areas of cooperation, which are renewable energies, energy saving technologies, afforestation and waste management.

Mr Mitsuo Sakaba

I can give one example to explain what we would like to do. For instance, we would like to deal with the issue of energy saving in Vietnam. During 1990-2006 Vietnam’s consumption of energies increased five-fold to meet its economic development. The steel, cement and food processing industries use the largest amount of energy.

Of course Vietnam needs to use more energy to reach its high gross domestic product growth targets. However, there are energy-saving technologies which would enable Vietnam to use less energy, but produce more products. Our goal is to introduce and promote such technologies in Vietnam.

Despite its great importance, transferring technology is very costly. What will Japan do to help Vietnam access environment-friendly technologies?

We are thinking about a financing mechanism to help Vietnam reduce greenhouse gas emissions and particularly encourage the private sector to take part in these efforts.

As an initial effort, in late October this year, Japan agreed a US$50 million official development assistance project to support Vietnam in the fields of renewable energies and energy efficiency. This money, with a concessional interest rate of 1 per cent per year, will go directly to the Vietnam Development Bank to finance private companies which have good projects using renewable energies or energy-saving technologies. Since the interest rate is rather low, I believe this is a good incentive for the private sector to use green technologies for the benefit of itself, the country and the globe as well.

In the international arena, at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in September this year, apart from announcing Japan’s ambitious plan to reduce CO2 emissions by 25 per cent by 2020, Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama introduced Japan’s initiative on a public finance support mechanism. This mechanism is aimed at facilitating technology transfer from developed to developing nations. He also called for combined efforts from countries to translate this mechanism into reality since it needs a lot of money and other resources to put this mechanism into operation.

Regarding Japanese investors, what do you think of their interest in environmental projects in Vietnam?

Japanese companies have a growing interest in environmental projects in Vietnam. Solar energy is one of the strengths of Japanese companies, while Vietnam has great potential to develop this renewable energy.

As a result, some Japanese producers are very keen on introducing solar panels to Vietnam and some have brought solar panels to small villages in mountainous areas and the Central Highlands.

So far, Japanese companies have also invested in 11 clean development mechanism (CDM) projects in Vietnam, of which the Rang Dong oil field gas recovery and utilisation project, a joint venture between Japan’s Nippon Oil Corporation, Vietnam and the UK, is the largest CDM project in Vietnam. It brings about 4.5 million certified emission reduction credits and an average annual reduction of around 900,000 tonnes of CO2. I am certain that more and more Japanese are keen on investing in CDM projects in Vietnam.

As a developing economy which is vulnerable to climate change, what should Vietnam do to deal with this global challenge?

Oh, there is much room for maneuvering. I think Vietnam could voluntarily announce its CO2 emission programme. If Vietnam has voluntarily targets for each sector, the programme will help it develop a low-carbon economy more quickly and make it easier for international donors to know how to support Vietnam.

We are now at a starting point. The Vietnamese government has established a national programme to respond to climate change and Japan is ready to cooperate with the Vietnamese government in this field.

However, it’s noteworthy that many international donors, including Japan, have their own assistance plans. So the Vietnamese government should be a good coordinator with the responsibility to discuss with donors what support it needs from each of them to avoid overlaps and harmonise donors’ different approaches.