The greening of Vietnam’s construction industry

The event by the 2019 Building Material Forum (BMF2019) was designed to encourage best practices in changing awareness of the importance of producing and using non-fired building materials and contributing to Vietnam’s sustainable development and climate change targets.

Vietnam has committed to an eight-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and up to 25 percent with international support. Non-fired brick technology not only reduces C02 emissions, but also saves agricultural land, and reuses millions of tonnes of industrial waste that would otherwise have been sent to landfills.

Addressing participants, Caitlin Wiesen, Resident Representative of UNDP (United Nations Development Program) Vietnam, commended the government of Vietnam and every stakeholder, business in the brick making sector for their determination, and the efforts they put forth to shift the industry from coal fired polluting kilns to environmentally friendly non-fired technology. “Producing and using non-fired bricks is not only possible, but profitable and brings us one step further towards achieving the sustainable development goals and national climate change targets,” she said.

The domestic market share of non-fired bricks reached 28 percent in 2018, an increase of 15 percent compared with 2011, and this is significant, she added. UNDP is encouraging Vietnamese firms to apply solar energy for curing non-fired bricks, increase the proportion of fly ash to 70 percent of the input material mix and employ new construction techniques that use non-fired bricks.

The 51 businesses selected for the tribute included 37 NFBM producers, four equipment manufacturers and technology transfers; five construction contractors using significant NFBMs; and five investors with construction projects using significant NFBMs.

According to Deputy Minister of Construction Bui Pham Khanh, Prime Ministerial Decision 567/QD-TTg dated April 28, 2010 on the NFBM Development Program and Prime Ministerial Decision 1686/QD-TTg dated September 19, 2014 approving the Project “Promotion of Non-Fired Brick Production and Utilization in Vietnam” are the government’s major policies on sustainable development orientation of Vietnam’s building material sector.