Having contained the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam is becoming the first developing country to adopt carbon pricing in the post-pandemic period to help guide a cleaner recovery.
On 17 November, Vietnam’s National Assembly passed the revised Law on Environmental Protection legalising an emission trading scheme. The law will take effect on 1 January 2022.
This policy is expected to strengthen Vietnam’s commitment to greenhouse gas emission reductions under the Paris Agreement on climate change. It paves the way for the country to further tap its significant renewable energy potential, and switch to a low-carbon development model in the post-COVID-19 recovery era.
The law stipulates that the government will establish a carbon emission trading scheme that suits the local context and complies with international climate change treaties. Details such as targets, timelines and regulated industries will be specified later in a government decree.
The law also legalises enabling policies such as national greenhouse gas emission inventories, and the monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions.
Carbon pricing is a policy instrument that places a cost on greenhouse gases. With a carbon price in place, a market-based economy will have an incentive to steer itself in a low-emission direction.
By mid-2020, 61 carbon pricing initiatives had been implemented or scheduled for implementation worldwide. Before Vietnam, a handful of developing countries had adopted carbon pricing, including China, South Africa and Kazakhstan.
https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2020/11/19/vietnam-pioneers-post-pandemic-carbon-pricing/