Vietnam is advancing a structured domestic carbon market through an evolving legal framework, with a pilot preparation phase set to begin in 2025and full commercial operation targeted for 2028, according to a policy overview published by state newspaper Báo Nhân Dân. The framework is grounded in provisions of the 2014 and 2020 Environmental Protection Laws and operationalised by Decree No. 06/2022/NĐ-CP (7 January 2022). The planned market will cover both emission quota trading and carbon credit exchange through offset mechanisms, with mandatory greenhouse gas verification for covered industrial facilities. The article notes that the global carbon credit market reached $3 billion in 2020 and cites China, India, Brazil, and Mexico as regional peers developing similar schemes.
Vietnamese firms have a longer international track record than the domestic framework’s current stage implies. Nguyễn Tuấn Quang, Deputy Directorof the Climate Change Department at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, is quoted as saying domestic companies have traded on voluntary carbon markets since the mid-2000s via the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Gold Standard (GS), Verified Carbon Standard (VCS, from 2008), and the Japan-Vietnam Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM, from 2013). The source reports that 150 Vietnamese projects have collectively been certified for 40.2 million carbon credits traded on international markets. Between 2015 and 2020, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment also ran a market-readiness project with several other ministries and the World Bank to strengthen institutional capacity and develop a domestic participation roadmap.
The article identifies several gaps that must be closed before the domestic market can function credibly: no national carbon credit standard exists, the MRV (measurement, reporting, and verification) system does not yet meet international benchmarks, qualified personnel for project development and credit verification are scarce, and most cross-border transactions occur bilaterally rather than through exchanges, complicating oversight. The source calls for rapid enactment of domestic legal rules governing quota and credit transactions, the creation of a domestic trading exchange, and alignment with international norms. Deputy Prime Minister Trần Hồng Hà, at a government review meeting on the draft scheme to establish Vietnam’s carbon market, reportedly directed that implementation tasks be assigned to specific ministries with concrete deliverables and timelines, and that the process be calibrated to international standards — including engagement with foreign advisory, verification, and quota-assessment bodies.
Carbon Market Context
- The research’s topic query for this item is the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), which maps directly to the source’s account that Vietnam has participated in JCM with Japan since 2013 — one of the bilateral mechanisms underpinning its existing international credit portfolio.
- Vietnam’s reported figure of 40.2 million credits from 150 projects represents a modest but established position within that global pool.
Source
- Thị trường carbon và trách nhiệm ứng phó biến đổi khí hậuBáo Nhân Dân, 2024-11-03