Preliminary research results of Boston Consulting Group show that the potential to shift the 2 sectors of wind and solar power can contribute to GDP up to 70-80 billion USD and the hydrogen ecosystem contributes about 40-45 billion USD.
Sharing at the conference “Promoting green growth in Vietnam: A roadmap to success” on April 18, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung said that the world economy in 4 is facing a situation of “multiple crises”, from increasing public debt, energy and food price inflation, to the impact of the conflict in Ukraine and complicated developments of climate change.
“The current situation of “multi-crisis” requires all countries to renew their growth models to take advantage of opportunities, overcome challenges, and move towards sustainable and inclusive development, in which green growth is increasingly becoming a top priority of economies in the face of complex fluctuations, unpredictable and many challenges are intertwined,” the minister stressed.
COUNTRIES PARTICIPATING IN THE “GREEN ALLIANCE”
In fact, more and more countries have been and will participate in “green alliances” to transition to a green economy through regional and global commitments.
For example, the European Union with its Green Deal 2030 focuses on reducing carbon emissions, increasing the use of renewable energy, increasing green transport and encouraging environmentally friendly products. Other governments and businesses around the world, such as Japan, South Korea and the US, are also investing in green development projects to achieve similar goals.
According to a recent assessment by the European Commission, the current global market size for green products and services is estimated at over $5 trillion and has a much higher growth rate than traditional markets. It is forecast that by 2030, the green economy will create about 24 million new jobs globally.
In the US, the green economy creates jobs for about 9.5 million workers, contributing equivalent to 1.300 trillion USD / year; for OECD countries, this figure is 17.5 million workers, equivalent to 2.900 trillion USD / year.
Green economy also creates opportunities to strongly attract investors in many new fields such as renewable energy, smart transportation, smart agriculture, urban – green building, green finance…
According to a representative of Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the green trend is also taking place strongly in China – the economy with the highest emission in the world today, with a strong transition to using green transportation.
To achieve the plan, China has focused on adopting a green growth policy; which focuses on promulgating regulatory standards for energy-saving goods, supporting the development of high-tech and green technology projects through a series of solutions such as tax exemption and reduction, infrastructure support, procedures…
“The fact that countries are proactive in moving towards a low-carbon economy is a pioneering direction, contributing to reducing the risks caused by climate change as well as bringing economic benefits in the future,” BCG representative affirmed.
FOCUS ON THE INDUSTRY, THE SECTOR THAT ACTIVATES THE NATURAL ADVANTAGE
For Vietnam, according to Minister Nguyen Chi Dung, green growth towards economic prosperity, environmental sustainability and social justice is not only an inevitable choice but also an opportunity to become a pioneer in the region, catching up with the development trend of the world, towards the goal of realizing Vietnam’s landmark historical commitment to net zero emissions by 0.
On that basis, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has advised the Prime Minister to promulgate the National Strategy on Green Growth in the period of 2021-2030, vision to 2050 and the National Action Plan on Green Growth in the period of 2021-2030.
According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Anh, Director General of the Department of Science, Education, Natural Resources and Environment (Ministry of Planning and Investment), the strategy has clearly identified green growth as an important solution to promote economic restructuring associated with renovating growth models, improving competitiveness and resilience to external shocks, directly contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions towards a carbon-neutral economy in the long term.
Accordingly, the green growth strategy focuses on 10 priority industry themes and 8 overall themes such as institutional and governance-based, advanced science and technology, high-quality human resources, investment in advanced technology, digital transformation, smart and sustainable infrastructure.
“With that in mind, Vietnam identifies green growth as a long-term option to ensure a balance and harmony with the goal of reducing total greenhouse gas emissions with the growing development and size of the economy,” the minister said.
BCG’s preliminary research results with the support of SK Group show that the transformation of the 2 wind and solar power sectors has the potential to contribute to GDP up to 70-80 billion USD, creating about 90-105 thousand direct jobs. In addition, the clean hydrogen ecosystem based on renewable energy has the potential to contribute 40-45 billion USD to GDP annually, creating about 40-50 thousand jobs, benefiting both the domestic market and export potential to developed countries around the world.
However, to achieve the goals set out in the Strategy, Vietnam needs to take more breakthrough and drastic steps to bring the green economy from a scale of 6.7 billion USD in 2020 to 300 billion USD contributing each year to the total national GDP by 2050.
“In particular, Vietnam needs to focus on the most essential sectors to help Vietnam activate its natural advantages and rise to become a developed country on all three environmental, economic and social factors by 2045,” Minister Nguyen Chi Dung emphasized.