Author: Đào Thu Hằng

I'm from Hanoi, Viet Nam. I'm an author of Dot Chuoi Non (dotchuoinon.com/author/hangbelu/), a blog on Positive thinking, founded by Dr. Tran Dinh Hoanh, an attorney in Washington DC. I'm a co-founder of Conversations on Vietnam Development - cvdvn.net, a virtual think tank; a co-founder of POTATO - potato.edu.vn, working on outdoor education programs for kids in Vietnam. My English blog: hangbelu.wordpress/. I'm studying the Buddha's teaching and the teaching of Jesus. I practice mindful living including meditation. I hold a PhD on Sustainable Energy Systems from University of Lisbon and Aalto University. I graduated from Hanoi University of Technology on Environmental Engineering. I obtained a Master degree of the same major from Stanford University and Nanyang Technological University. I play table tennis as a hobby.

More than 500 dams planned inside protected areas: Study

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Mongabay.com

by on 5 August 2020

    • More than 500 dams are either under construction or planned within protected areas over the next two decades, according to a new study.
    • The study found that more than 1,200 large dams already exist within protected areas.
    • The authors strongly encourage governments to avoid constructing dams in or near protected areas and instead to look toward renewable energies such as wind and solar.
    • The researchers express concerns about ongoing rollbacks to environmental protections, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Analysis: Vietnam’s leadership flex shows how to drive electricity reform

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Mongabay.com
Analysis by on 6 August 2020
  • Vietnam’s Communist Party leadership has instituted a top-down reform of the country’s electricity sector in response to the need to shift away from coal and its growing list of associated problems.
  • The country’s new energy strategy puts greater emphasis on renewables, including wind and solar, abandoning a decade-long commitment to investing in and subsidizing coal.
  • The move is also helped by recent technological developments that have made generating renewable power at scale more economically feasible than ever.

Dealing with climate change should be a no-brainer, right? To paraphrase Greta Thunberg, the science is done and only denial, ignorance and inaction remain. Or is that really all?
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Centenarian kiln kingdom a Mekong Delta cornerstone

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vnexpress.net

By Quynh Tran   August 4, 2020 | 07:30 pm GMT+7

A village in Vinh Long Province, boasting over a thousand historic kilns, is the largest brick manufacturer in the Mekong Delta.

Vietnam approves $9 billion development within mangrove reserve

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news.mongabay.com

by  on 5 August 2020

  • Vietnam’s $9.3 billion Can Gio Tourist City was recently approved for construction within the buffer zone of a UNESCO Mangrove Biosphere Reserve in Ho Chi Minh City.
  • Developed by Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest private company, the project will require the reclamation of a huge amount of land along Can Gio’s coast.
  • Environmentalists and activists have petitioned the government to reconsider the project, but Vingroup is a key part of the country’s drive toward industrialization and home-grown world-class companies.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — A $9.3 billion residential and tourism development has been approved within the buffer zone of the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve here in this city of 13 million, Vietnam’s largest urban area. The project was proposed by the Can Gio Tourism Urban Area Joint Stock Company, a subsidiary of Vinhomes, the real estate arm of Vingroup, the country’s largest private company. The Can Gio Tourist City would span 2,870 hectares (7,100 acres), largely on land that would be filled in along the South China Sea coast using sand. Tiếp tục đọc “Vietnam approves $9 billion development within mangrove reserve” →

Thai Court Allows Cambodian Class Action Against Thai Firm

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thediplomat.com

“This is a David vs. Goliath case that will redefine access to justice for the victims of corporate abuse in Southeast Asia and beyond,” one expert said.

By Busaba Sivasomboon
August 01, 2020
Thai Court Allows Cambodian Class Action Against Thai Firm
Credit: Unsplash

A Thai court ruled Friday that several hundred families in Cambodia who were displaced from their homes may file a class action suit against the Thai company they believe was responsible, a decision hailed as trailblazing by land rights activists.

The Bangkok South Civil Court issued the ruling in a case in which Cambodian farmers are suing Thailand’s Mitr Phol company, one of the world’s largest sugar producers.

About 700 families were forcibly evicted from their homes in 2008-2009 when Cambodian subsidiaries of Mitr Phol were acquiring plots of land in a Cambodian government-approved plan to turn the northwestern province of Oddar Meanchey into a sugar production hub.
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The role of commercial and industrial clean energy demand in Vietnam’s power sector

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Renewable Energy in Manufacturing

by Rachel Posner Ross and Evan Scandling

Introduction

At a time when Vietnam’s electricity demand is surging in response to commercial, industrial, and population growth, a common concern has emerged that rising economic activity will shift carbon emissions from China and other manufacturing hubs to Vietnam. However, our experience through the Clean Energy Investment Accelerator (CEIA) initiative in Vietnam indicates that private-sector demand for renewables has the potential to overcome policy barriers and catalyze significant scaling up of clean energy deployment in emerging markets. Vietnam’s 2019-2020 rooftop solar boom and anticipated surge in wind and solar virtual power purchase agreements for corporate offtakers in 2020 and beyond are the results of public-private collaboration on issues that simultaneously advance government and private-sector interests, offering important lessons for other markets in pursuit of sustainable development.

Background

Vietnam is a developing economy with a population of nearly 100 million and annual GDP growth of 6 to 7 percent, making it one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies, which has been true for decades. Foreign direct investment (FDI) was close to $18 billion in 2018, which accounted for approximately 24 percent of total investment in the economy.1 More than 10,000 foreign companies are estimated to operate or have supply chain manufacturing in Vietnam, including many of the world’s largest companies from a variety of sectors.2 For decades, Vietnam has been home to labor-intensive industries such as apparel and footwear production. Many of the world’s

Download full paper here

This report is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s). © 2020 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved

Hoàn thành cập nhật Đóng góp do quốc gia tự quyết định (NDC): Nâng mức đóng góp của Việt Nam cho ứng phó với BĐKH toàn cầu

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baotainguyenmoitruong.vn

(TN&MT) – Ngày 24/7/2020, Thủ tướng Chính phủ đã phê duyệt Đóng góp do quốc gia tự quyết định (NDC) cập nhật của Việt Nam. Bằng nguồn lực trong nước, đến năm 2030 Việt Nam sẽ giảm 9% tổng lượng phát thải khí nhà kính so với Kịch bản phát triển thông thường (BAU) quốc gia, tương đương 83,9 triệu tấn CO2tđ.

Mức đóng góp 9% này có thể được tăng lên thành 27% so với BAU quốc gia (tương đương 250,8 triệu tấn CO2tđ) khi nhận được hỗ trợ quốc tế thông qua hợp tác song phương, đa phương và các cơ chế trong khuôn khổ Thỏa thuận Paris về biến đổi khí hậu. NDC cập nhật của Việt Nam xác định các biện pháp giảm nhẹ phát thải khí nhà kính giai đoạn 2021-2030 và các nhiệm vụ chiến lược về thích ứng với biến đổi khí hậu, các giải pháp thích ứng nhằm giảm thiểu thiệt hại do các tác động liên quan đến những thay đổi của khí hậu gây ra trong tương lai được xác định cụ thể cho từng lĩnh vực. Tiếp tục đọc “Hoàn thành cập nhật Đóng góp do quốc gia tự quyết định (NDC): Nâng mức đóng góp của Việt Nam cho ứng phó với BĐKH toàn cầu” →

Cuộc đua thực thi Thỏa thuận Paris

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MONREmedia.org
Thứ năm – 30/07/2020 16:42
Cuộc đua thực thi Thỏa thuận Paris
Theo số liệu từ Ngân hàng Thế giới, hiện có 30 quốc gia/vùng lãnh thổ đã áp dụng thuế các bon và 31 quốc gia/vùng lãnh thổ áp dụng hệ thống trao đổi tín chỉ các bon (ETS). Việt Nam đang nghiên cứu lựa chọn công cụ định giá các bon phù hợp với điều kiện của quốc gia, làm cơ sở phát triển thị trường các bon trong nước và đảm bảo tuân thủ các cam kết quốc tế từ sau năm 2020.

Đáp ứng yêu cầu chương trình tín chỉ các bon
Tiếp tục đọc “Cuộc đua thực thi Thỏa thuận Paris” →

Big Oil Took a Big Hit from the Coronavirus, Earnings Reports Show

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insideclimatenews.org

Companies report billions in losses and decreased value of assets, but still plan to expand oil and gas production going forward.

JUL 31, 2020

Oil companies have lost billions since the coronavirus pandemic began, according to new earnings reports. Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

The world’s leading oil and gas giants this week revealed the scale of the damage inflicted on the industry by the coronavirus pandemic, with top American companies reporting billions in losses while some European companies were able to eke out small profits.

Shell and Total, based in the Netherlands and France, respectively, said a dimming outlook on the long-term demand for oil and gas had forced them to cut the value of their assets by a collective $25 billion. The two companies attributed that lowered outlook to the effects of the pandemic, but also to an accelerating global transition to clean energy

ExxonMobil and Chevron, based in Texas and California, reported large losses as a result of the coronavirus, but made no mention of an energy transition or a looming peak in oil demand.

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Scientists pull living microbes, possibly 100 million years old, from beneath the sea

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sciencemag.org

Microbes buried beneath the sea floor for more than 100 million years are still alive, a new study reveals. When brought back to the lab and fed, they started to multiply. The microbes are oxygen-loving species that somehow exist on what little of the gas diffuses from the ocean surface deep into the seabed.

The discovery raises the “insane” possibility, as one of the scientists put it, that the microbes have been sitting in the sediment dormant, or at least slowly growing without dividing, for eons.

The new work demonstrates “microbial life is very persistent, and often finds a way to survive,” says Virginia Edgcomb, a microbial ecologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who was not involved in the work

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Haj pilgrimage in Mecca downsized due to coronavirus pandemic

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Muslims began the annual haj pilgrimage this year on July 29, 2020 in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. But the 2020 pilgrimage is very different because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Only about 10,000 residents of the kingdom were selected to join, instead of the usual millions of pilgrims who arrive from around the world. As part of the ritual, the Kaaba’s sacred black stone is normally kissed, but that practice as well as other activities have been banned. The pilgrimage will last through to August 2, 2020.

Covid-19 Reveals Critical Flaw In European Power Systems – Lack Of Flexibility

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Wood MackenzieContributor

Coronavirus had a sudden and dramatic negative impact on power demand, which fell by 20% in the UK during the lockdown period with similar drops across Europe. Coronavirus power demand destruction has given us a glimpse into the future when variable renewable energy (VRE: wind and solar) makes up a higher proportion of power supply. At current levels, the power system lacks the flexibility to support this variability: the bigger the share of VRE in a system, the greater the challenge.
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Vietnam coal consumption growth among world’s fastest

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vnexpress.net

By Dat Nguyen   July 20, 2020 | 05:52 pm GMT+7

Vietnam coal consumption growth among world’s fastest

Workers pick out gravel from coal at a coal port in Hanoi. Photo by Reuters/Kham.

Vietnam posted the highest growth in coal consumption among the top 10 global consumers last year, a report found.

The country consumed 2.07 exajoules of electricity from coal last year, up 30.2 percent year-on-year, according to the “BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2020” report by energy firm BP.

First News đang chuẩn bị hồ sơ kiện Lazada vì bán sách giả

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ictnews.vietnamnet.vn

Sách bị cáo buộc làm giả được First News đặt mua từ các trang thương mại điện tử. Ảnh: FB ông Nguyễn Văn Phước

First News không nói rõ có kiện các trang thương mại điện tử khác như Shopee hay Sendo, hai trang họ có đề cập trong cáo buộc bán sách giả.

Trước đó, trên Facebook cá nhân, ông Nguyễn Văn Phước – nhà sáng lập và CEO công ty sách First News – tố cáo các sàn thương mại điện tử như Lazada, Shopee, Sendo có các gian hàng bày bán sách vi phạm bản quyền của First News, Alpha Books và các nhà xuất bản khác. Ông Nguyễn Cảnh Bình – Chủ tịch Alpha Books – cũng lên án các trang Lazada, Shopee, Sendo… và vài trăm trang bán sách giả khác bán sách không có bản quyền của công ty ông Bình.

Trong văn bản trả lời ICTnews, phía Alpha Books khẳng định rất nhiều sách được lưu hành trên thị trường là sách giả, theo Điều 213 Luật Sở hữu trí tuệ 2015, và định nghĩa về hàng giả của Cục Quản lý thị trường, Bộ Công thương.

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Why has flooding been so severe in China this year?

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Intense rainfall and severe flooding that has battered China since early June 2020, has affected tens of millions of people and left at least 140 dead or missing. The Three Gorges Dam that spans the Yangtze River has been put to the test in terms of its ability to  control floods along Asia’s longest river. But why have floods across a large region of China been so severe in the summer of 2020?