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Vietnam targets net zero, but struggles to break coal dependence
(China Dialogue, 31 Jan 2022) As foreign investors turn away from coal, an internal struggle is taking place over Vietnam’s energy path.
At the COP26 climate conference last year, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chính unexpectedly announced a target of reaching net zero by 2050. The country also signed the Global Coal to Clean Power Transition statement, in which it committed to rapidly scale up renewables and build no more new unabated coal power plants.
This is a major and unexpected pivot for Vietnam. The country has invested heavily in coal power over the past decade and has the most installed coal capacity among Mekong countries, after China. Just two months before COP26, the government released Vietnam’s eighth power development plan (PDP8) which covered 2021–2030 and relied heavily on foreign investment in non-renewable energy. The PDP8 would have doubled coal power capacity by 2030, with more to come in the five years after that.
After its COP26 announcements, the government asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to revise the PDP8, though an updated draft is yet to be released.
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China Dialogue, 31 Jan 2022: Vietnam targets net zero, but struggles to break coal dependence
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