Vietnam and Denmark cooperate in pushing forward energy saving efforts

This set of guidelines is one of the key outputs of the Danish Vietnamese Energy Partnership Programme as it provides an essential base for the energy efficiency efforts in Vietnam towards the target of achieving 5-7 pct. energy savings on a national level in the period 2019-2025. The set of guidelines is a result of more than two years of closely working together between MOIT, the Danish Energy Agency and the two partner provinces, i.e. Dong Nai and Bac Giang.

“The Ministry of Industry and Trade highly appreciates the Danish government’s support to Vietnam in the energy sector in the past years. The set of guidelines for developing provincial action plans on energy efficiency is an important deliverable of the Danish-Vietnamese Energy Partnership Programme and will serve as one of the valuable tools for Vietnam in our efforts to achieve the national energy efficiency targets.” said H.E. Mr. Hoang Quoc Vuong, Deputy Minister of MOIT.

According to H.E. Mr. Kim Højlund Christensen, Ambassador of Denmark in Vietnam, the government’s decision to adopt a cost effective energy efficiency pathway is very wise and encouraging since energy efficiency plays a key role in the green transition of any country. “I am delighted to see that the good cooperation between Danish and Vietnamese experts in the Danish-Vietnamese Energy Partnership Programme has yielded strong outputs and partly contributed to Vietnam’s realization of its national targets on energy savings and consequently reduction of greenhouse gases”, said Ambassador Kim Højlund Christensen.

Another important component of the Danish-Vietnamese Energy Partnership is the release of the biennial ‘Vietnam Energy Outlook’ report. The most recent report was issued in November 2019 in Hanoi jointly by MOIT Deputy Minister Hoang Quoc Vuong, and the Danish Permanent Secretary for Climate, Energy and Utilities Morten Bæk. The report emphasizes energy efficiency as a cost-efficient tool for Vietnam’s green transition towards 2030 and 2050 and recommends investments in energy saving technology, which will in the long run be more cost effective due to substantial savings of costs in fuels. Many benefits from improved energy efficiency include major societal benefits such as reduced air pollution and improved national energy security.

“The set of guidelines for Provincial Energy Efficiency Action Plan, issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, is a solid initiative to help Vietnam reach its cost-effective energy saving targets. Similar initiatives have proven very effective in Denmark and I am confident that it will work well in Vietnam too. I hope that once all the provinces in Vietnam follow the guidelines to develop and implement their own action plan, Vietnam will be able to shorten its way towards low emissions and sustainable development’, said, Mr. Anton Beck, Director for Global Cooperation at the Danish Energy Agency.

Vietnam’s industrial sector is one of the most energy consuming sectors of the country and is, therefore, an important factor in the transition to a low-carbon society. Calculations show that if existing legislation is enforced, the sector could save at least 8% of its current annual energy consumption by 2025. With new methods, tools and incentives based on Danish experiences, the saving rate could even be higher.