The workshop gathered the presence of Deputy Director of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development Department (EESD) Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu, Long-term Advisor of the Viet Nam - Denmark Energy Partnership Program (DEPP) Mr. Jorgen Hvid, and representatives from the Industry and Trade Department in some Northern provinces.
The Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development (MOIT) co-organized the workshop with the Danish Energy Agency and the Danish Embassy in Viet Nam
The workshop worked on the voluntary agreements of energy efficiency promotion in the industrial sector. Therefore, its results will contribute to the CO2 reduction goal, energy efficiency and Energy Efficiency Law compliance. It also would help in improving competitiveness in export markets.
Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu opened the workshop: “Energy plays a significant role in the national socio-economic development, supplies the energy demand for the national industrialization and modernization process, and improves people’s living standards. Currently, there are many challenges for the energy development of Viet Nam, for instance, the high energy consumption rate compared to the region and the world, the exhaustion of domestic fossil fuel resources, and the inability of domestic energy supplies to meet the increasingly high demand, etc.”
Deputy Director of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development Department (MOIT) Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu
From 2021-2025, the electricity supply is forecasted to face various challenges. Besides, Viet Nam will be a net importer of coal, natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the long-term. The context requires Viet Nam to consider energy efficiency as a priority to solve the problems of energy limitation as well as dependence on imported fuel materials.
Furthermore, energy efficiency is considered as an effective method to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to realizing Viet Nam’s net-zero pledge in 2050.
“To contribute to Viet Nam’s commission, the Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development Department co-organized the Danish Energy Agency and Danish Embassy in Viet Nam this workshop. It focuses on developing, proposing and designing voluntary agreements (VAs) which promote energy efficient use in the industrial sector. The pilot program will be held in 2023-2025, with some EE promotional mechanisms piloted, such as GHG inventory and reports support, pre-feasibility study and feasibility study conduction, preparing loan documents, etc.”, Mr. Vu said.
Emphases on the significant role of VAs, DEEP Long-term Advisor Mr. Jorgen Hvid, affirmed that the mechanism is an effective leverage that helps enterprises to reduce pressure in the current time of various challenges, such as high energy prices, CO2 cut down demands from international markets and energy efficiency regulations.
Moreover, by participating VAs, enterprises gain opportunities to overcome barriers like awareness and knowledge limitation in conducting EE solutions, lack of technical experts and service suppliers, limitation in accessing the financial resources, and resource competitiveness with other goals.
DEEP Long-term Advisor Mr. Jorgen Hvid
“The VAs mechanism will support enterprises to select the best solutions for EE conduction, designed to meet enterprises’ demand and conditions. At the same time, it also opens opportunities for loan access for EE investment, consultation on EE improvement and EE plan development, etc., for enterprises that participate in VAs”, Mr. Jorgen Hvid shared.
The two next sessions of the workshop are the Design of VAs program and VAs Action Plan development.
In the VAs Design session, some primary contents were introduced, including the program’s goals, participatory requirements, incentives for participatory enterprises, and benefits for provinces and sectors by VAs.
In the other session, the focal points are the introduction and roles of stakeholders, organization, implementation procedure and the action plan.
In the Q&A session, some discussion points were raised by representatives from some Industry and Trade Department of provinces, VAs experts, MOIT representatives and financial institutions. They included loan access and financial support for EE projects.
Representative of Vinh Phuc Industry and Trade Department raised some questions in the workshop
The Workshop on Program Design Consultation of Voluntary Agreements of Energy Efficiency Promotion in the Industrial Sector is an activity within Component Three of DEEP3 “Low Carbon Development in the Industrial Sector”. The Component’s goals are to develop incentive schemes for EE in the industrial sector and improve the capacity to create and revise the EE regulatory framework at the national level and enforce compliance with EE legal framework at the provincial level.
Find more information about VAS HERE.
Quang Ngoc - Phuong Loan reported | Giang Nguyen translated