Vietnam expected further support from Germany to promote the just energy transition partnership (JETP) to fulfil its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Hanoi on January 24. Photo: Nhat Bac/VGP

Vietnam expected further support from Germany to promote the just energy transition partnership (JETP) to fulfil its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made the request at the meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Hanoi during his official visit, the first paid by a German President to Vietnam in 17 years.

Germany is one of the countries in the International Partners Group (IPG) consisting of the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, and the US to implement the JETP signed in December 2022 to help Vietnam deliver on its climate targets. The countries, through JETP, pledged to mobilize US$15.5 billion for Vietnam in the next five years.

According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Germany is an active partner in supporting Vietnam’s low-carbon future committed at COP26 in 2021. He expected the country’s active assistance to effectively implement German-funded projects with a focus on infrastructure, sustainable development, and renewable energy.

For his part, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Germany would share its experiences to help Vietnam advance its energy transition amid the need of increasing renewables. 

Dr Guido Hildner, German Ambassador to Vietnam, also stressed the importance of energy in the bilateral relations following the president’s visit, saying that it would be motivation for the cooperation in the coming time.

He said Germany wants to accelerate Vietnam's energy transition by increasing renewable sources to phase out fossil fuels.

Speaking at a recent conference hosted by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), Dr Hildner said Germany has been a long standing and reliable partner of Vietnam. Their first joint project in renewable energy started in 2009 with an overall portfolio of ongoing and planned projects of more than EUR1 billion (US$1.1 billion).

In 2009, Vietnam and Germany started working together to develop wind energy, and in 2011, the Vietnamese government released its first wind power tariff.

GIZ Energy Support Program (ESP) has partnered with Vietnamese agencies namely the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Electricity and Renewable Energy Agency (EREA), the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERAV), the National Assembly (NA), Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), and the Central Economic Commission (CEC).

A number of policy consulting, capacity building, and technology cooperation projects in the fields of renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grids, bio-energy, wind power, and solar power integration in agriculture have been carried out by the main sponsors, which are the German Ministries of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), and Education and Research (BMBF).

The ESP program has provided funding for numerous research projects, advised and proposed incentive mechanisms to the Vietnamese government to encourage the transition to a sustainable energy source, built capacity for investors, consulting firms, commercial banks, universities, research institutes, and local and central government officials, and supported investors by fortifying the legal and regulatory framework’s prerequisites.

To make the energy targets possible, Germany also supports Vietnam’s manpower in this industry as the number of employees in occupations with green skills matters a lot for a reason that the energy transition is a complex and demanding process.

As part of efforts to support country’s low carbon path, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh announced a plan to mobilize resources for its energy transition on December 1, 2023 at the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) in Dubai, UAE, making Vietnam the first country to declare such a resource mobilization plan to pursue its climate commitments.