Conversations on Vietnam Development
Theguardian – Global warming ‘ultimate threat multiplier’ posing serious risk to world security, says report urging governments not to see it simply as a climate issue
Tackling climate change risks must become a top foreign policy priority if the world is to combat the global security threat it poses in the 21st century, according to a new study commissioned by the G7 countries. Tiếp tục đọc “Climate change should be top foreign policy priority, G7 study says”
“886 Dutch citizens, including teachers, entrepreneurs, grandparents and students united to sue their government for its inaction on climate change. In a decision likely to reverberate across the world, the court ordered the state to reduce emissions by 25% within 5 years to protect its citizens from climate change.”
Theguardian – Dutch ruling could trigger similar cases worldwide with citizens taking their governments to courts to make them act on climate promises
June 24th, 2015 by Sandy Dechert
Cleantecnica.com – “Recent decades have witnessed dramatic progress in global health,” says the US Agency for International Development. Smallpox has been eradicated within the past half century. In all but three countries (Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan), polio has been wiped out. Use of modern methods of contraception has increased from 10% in 1965 to more than 50% in 2013. Child deaths from diarrhea have been cut in half since 1990. Malaria deaths have fallen by more than a quarter globally since 2000. Only half as many mothers died in live childbirth in 2010, compared to 20 years earlier. Unheard of 50 years ago, HIV/AIDS has now transited from certain death to a chronic ailment.
But climate change could quickly wipe out the past 50 years of world health progress. Tiếp tục đọc “Climate Changes May Eradicate 50 Years Of World Health Progress (In Depth)”
Bloomberg.com – Các nhà đầu tư châu Á đang mất dần niềm tin vào khả năng cung cấp dầu và khí tự nhiên xuyên Thái Bình Dương khi mà một dự án xuất khẩu lớn khác cũng đã sa lầy do sự phản đối của người thổ dân bản xứ.
Một cộng đồng thổ dân ở Bờ Tây đã từ chối gần 1 tỉ Đô la tiền đền bù từ Công ty Xăng Dầu Quốc gia Malaysia, khiến cho tương lai của một trong những sự đầu tư xuất khẩu khí đốt tiên tiến nhất của Canada rơi vào tình thế nguy khốn. Đây là khó khăn mới nhất ngăn cản sự tiếp cận của châu Á tới nguồn năng lượng của Canada khi mà các đường ống dẫn và các trạm tiếp nhận cần thiết để vận chuyển nhiên liệu thô qua biển gặp phải sự phản đối của cộng đồng người bản xứ.
Sự cự tuyệt tập trung vào những rào cản mà Canada phải đối mặt trong các nỗ lực cạnh tranh với Mỹ và Úc nhằm thu hút nhu cầu nhiên liệu đang tăng lên của châu Á, ví dụ như 19 đề xuất nhằm thúc đẩy xuất khẩu khí đốt Bờ biển Thái Bình Dương Canada.
“Điều này gửi một dấu hiệu rất xấu tới thế giới rằng Đó hãy nhìn vào Canada”, Gord Nettleton – một cộng sự tại Calgary của hãng luật McCarthy Tetraut nói. [Calgary là một thành phố phía nam của tỉnh Alberta, Canada]. Sự từ chối này đặt ra một câu hỏi: “Làm thế nào để kiểm soát được căn nhà của chính bạn?” Tiếp tục đọc “Sự cự tuyệt của người thổ dân làm lung lay niềm tin của châu Á vào các kế hoạch khí đốt của Canada”
Vietnam, amongst others, has electricity prices capped and differentiated for different users (the energy-intensive heavy industries being the most subsidised). More than US$2.5 billion is spent yearly to subsidise electricity prices from national utility EVN, distorting any competitive advantage renewable energy sources could have in a country with plenty of sun and wind resources.
Eco-Business: With the plunge in oil prices, countries in Southeast Asia have a golden opportunity to abolish fuel subsidies and introduce transparency in pricing. Image: Shutterstock
By Olivier Duguet – Wednesday 21 January 2015TUOI TRE NEWS Updated : 06/12/2015 10:20 GMT + 7
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang have pledged sufficient and stable power stable supply for foreign investors in the 2015-16 period.
Despite high power consumption in the past few months, the local electrical system still has 20 percent spare capacity that remains unused, Minister Hoang said at a forum in Hanoi on Tuesday in response to concerns of investors about the risk of power outages in the near future. Tiếp tục đọc “Vietnam pledges to adjust power price according to market mechanism, as proposed”
This paper examines the benefits and impacts of sustainable energy access for displaced populations, considers the challenges to energy access and assesses the role of the private sector in delivering energy for displaced populations.
Photo: iStockphoto By the end of 2013, the number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide had reached 51.2 million, of which 33.3 million were internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 16.7 million were refugees. Access to energy is a basic human need; for these displaced people however, access to energy is a real challenge. This initial research reviews camp situations (which are home to approximately 50% of refugees) and focuses on the evidence of the benefits and impacts of sustainable energy access for displaced populations. The paper also assesses how the private sector could help to provide energy for displaced populations. Tiếp tục đọc “The Current State of Sustainable Energy Provision for Displaced Populations: An analysis”
Renewableenergyworld.com – A crackdown has officially begun on Chinese solar panel makers who skirted a deal to avoid anti-dumping tariffs in Europe, with word that the EU has taken formal action to punish 3 violators. The action will see anti-dumping tariffs imposed on Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ), ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) and ET Solar, reviving a threat they previously avoided by agreeing to voluntarily raise their prices as part of a breakthrough deal in late 2013.
Western solar panel makers in the US and Europe had long complained that they were at an unfair disadvantage to their Chinese peers, which received a wide array of state subsidies through policies like cheap government loans and tax rebates for their exports. Washington responded by levying anti-dumping tariffs on the Chinese companies, while the EU took a more conciliatory approach by signing a deal that saw the Chinese agree to voluntarily raise their prices to levels comparable with their western rivals. Tiếp tục đọc “EU Cracks Down on China Solar Cheats”
Vietnam has the opportunity to become a regional leader on developing mitigation and adaptation strategies and technologies, particularly vis-à-vis the less-developed Mekong countries. Vietnam’s diverse climates, topography and ecosystems can provide a useful testing ground for piloting new mitigation and adaptation approaches. Moreover, Vietnam’s close ties with China will pose both opportunities and challenges that will shape the country’s climate change response.
Chathamhouse.org – Author: Heike Baumüller
Government policies are the sticking points. Carbon pricing, favourable tax regimes and rebalancing of subsidies will encourage demand for low-carbon capital. Supply will be increased by government support for research and development and improved financial policies. Countries that understand these dynamics will benefit from more private financing and clean growth, as are Vietnam and Germany now. Those that do not will be left squeezing the last remnants of value out of waning industries.
Nature.com – Private finance can drive the energy transformation needed to meet global emissions goals — if backed by the right policies, says Nathan Fabian.
Illustration by Derek Bacon
Markets and governments are converging to address climate change. As scientific evidence and government actions strengthen, investors and financiers are reducing the exposure of their portfolios to risks from rising greenhouse-gas emissions. They are allocating more capital to low-carbon activities and less to carbon-intensive industries1. Tiếp tục đọc “Economics: Support low-carbon investment”
Thứ Hai, 08/06/2015 11:04 (GMT+7)
Doanhnhansaigon.vn – Nghiên cứu vừa hoàn thành của Phòng Thương mại châu Âu tại Việt Nam (EuroCham) và Viện Quốc tế về Phát triển bền vững (IISD) cho thấy, khả năng thu hút nguồn vốn FDI của Việt Nam không dựa trên năng lượng giá rẻ.
Chi phí điện chỉ chiếm khoảng 5-10% tổng chi phí doanh nghiệp FDI. Đa số doanh nghiệp được khảo sát sẵn sàng chịu được mức tăng giá điện 15%/năm.
Được sự hỗ trợ của EuroCham, IISD và Ủy ban Tăng trưởng Xanh (EuroCham GGSC) vừa hoàn thành nghiên cứu đánh giá quan điểm của nhà đầu tư nước ngoài đối với giá cả và nguồn cung năng lượng tại Việt Nam.
Năng lượng giá rẻ là yếu tố ít quan trọng Tiếp tục đọc “Việt Nam có nên tăng thêm giá năng lượng?”
Despite a slowdown in its economy and the continued reliance on coal, China is pumping billions of dollars into its renewable energy industry.
GLOBE-Net – By Kieran Cooke
LONDON, 30 May, 2015 − China invested more than US$89 billion in renewable energy projects in the country in 2014 – a growth of 31% on the previous year, according to a detailed report on the country’s energy sector.
The soaring increase is revealed in a report by the US government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA). But it adds that fossil fuels − particularly coal − still look set to continue to dominate China’s power sector.
Coal is by far the most polluting fossil fuel, and China is the world’s leading emitter of climate-changing greenhouse gases.
Wind power production went up by nearly 40% in the 2012-13 period. Although there are still big gaps in the transmission infrastructure, the aim is to generate 200 gigawatts (GW) of electricity from wind by 2020.
Government subsidies
“China is also aggressively investing in solar power and hopes to increase capacity from 15 GW at the end of 2013 to 100 GW by the end of 2020,” says the EIA. Substantial government subsidies have helped to fuel growth in the solar sector. Tiếp tục đọc “China’s investment in renewables soars”
By Rabea Brauer | Vu Dang Tuan
Although Vietnam has very comprehensive frameworks for its climate and energy policy, there are justified doubts about the practicability of the strategy and its compatibility with economic development. This is reflected in the current climate and energy policy. Right now, it is impossible to consistently pursue the goal of balancing an effective climate policy with a low-carbon economy. This is because the goal is at odds with current developments in Vietnam’s energy sector. Germany Trade & Invest says that, in contrast to Germany’s energy policy, Vietnam has made the construction of coal-fired power plants a top priority, and this despite the fact that the country has considerable potential when it comes to renewable energies
(hydropower, biomass, nuclear energy).
CLIMATE OR THE ECONOMY? VIETNAM’S ATTEMPTS TO BALANCE GROWTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT
How do you achieve harmony between economic prosperity and a decisive climate policy? Governments all over the world are facing this dilemma and trying to tackle the serious challenges presented by the reciprocal relationship between economic policy and climate policy. Tiếp tục đọc “Climate or the Economy? Vietnam´s Attempts to Balance Growth and the Environment”
By Anne Zimmer, Michael Jakob, and Jan Steckel
Against the intuition of standard economic theory on collective action problems a number of developing countries engage in unilateral climate change mitigation policy. Ostrom (2010) gives several potential reasons why conventional theory fails to explain this observation, as for example the existence of multiple benefits. By analyzing the case of Vietnam, this study intends to give insights on the potential motivation for climate policy in a developing country. By means of qualitative interviews with Vietnamese policy makers and other stakeholders we examine the determinants that have shaped climate related policies recently launched in Vietnam, focusing on renewable energy policy and fossil fuel pricing policies. We find that emission reductions are not a main objective of these policies. Distinguishing between domestic and external factors, we argue that multiple policy objectives related to multiple benefits stemming from climate policy played important roles for national policy making as well as Vietnam’s international climate policy. Along the lines of Kingdon’s (1995) ‘multiple streams framework’ our analysis suggests that the interplay of those external and internal factors has opened a ‘window of opportunity’ enabling a policy change from a climate policy focused on adaptation to one in which increased emphasis is put on mitigation
Concluding thoughts Tiếp tục đọc “What motivates Vietnam to strive for a low‐carbon economy? – An explorative case study on the drivers of climate policy in a developing country”
Bài báo được đăng lần đầu tiên trên Business Green.
Châu Á là một khu vực mà IRENA xác định thiết lập mức tăng trưởng đáng kể trong năng lượng xanh khi tiếp tục chuyển công việc sản xuất từ Bắc Mỹ và Châu Âu. Trong khi Trung Quốc dẫn đầu với 3,4 triệu việc làm, các nước láng giềng như Ấn Độ, Indonesia, Nhật và Bangladesh cũng nằm trong tốp 10 nước đứng đầu về việc làm trong ngành năng lượng xanh.
Chỉ riêng Trung Quốc đã có gần 3,4 triệu người trong ngành công nghiệp năng lượng xanh. Điều gì phía sau sự tăng trưởng việc làm này? Tiếp tục đọc “Việc làm trong ngành năng lượng sạch tăng 18% trong năm 2014”
CVD 
Tiếp tục đọc “Hague climate change judgement could inspire a global civil movement” →