Partnership needed for Paris agreement

Vietnam’s government ratified the Paris Climate Change Agreement in October right ahead of the COP 22, making it the 95th out of 112 countries to have ratified the first ever universal, legally binding global climate deal adopted last December by 195 countries at the Paris Climate Conference (COP21).

Vietnam was also one of the few countries to have developed a detailed plan to implement the agreement, Nhan said at a conference on the dissemination of the COP 22 outcome and announcement of the country’s Action Plan to implement the agreement.

He added that the move was applauded at the COP 22 that took place in Marrakech, Morocco from November 7-18, 2016.

Vietnam’s implementation plan would be carried out in two stages- from 2016-20 and 2021-30 with 68 compulsory tasks in accordance with the Paris Agreement, Nhan said.

United Nations Development Programme’s country director Louise Chamberlain said the organisation welcomed the good progress made at COP 22 towards scaling up climate action to achieve the ambitious targets of the Paris Agreement.

She said the strong political statement of the “the Marrakech Proclamation for Our Climate and Sustainable Development” reaffirmed the world’s commitment to combating climate change, and urges the world to move “forward purposefully to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to foster adaption efforts”.

She said Vietnam has relevant climate-proof policies and incentives in place, so the country now had opportunities to access global finance such as the Global Environment facility, Green Climate Fund (GCF) and other international finance mechanisms to install resilient financing for infrastructure investment.

Vietnam sets a good example of mobilising climate finance from GCF by obtaining an award of 29.5 million USD for the project ‘Improving the Resilience of Vulnerable Coastal Communities to Climate Change Related Impacts with UNDP support’, she said.

Anna Shreyoegg, chief technical advisory of a project by the German Federal Enterprises for International Cooperation, better known as GIZ, said that Vietnam has proved its strong commitment to combating climate change and that the country has forged a leadership role for the region in the combat.

“Germany acknowledges that the implementation if the Paris Agreement will be challenging and demanding, but I believe also a rewarding task for Vietnam especially since it faces immense risks from the negative impacts of climate change,” she said.

Germany, through GIZ, will continue to support Vietnam in implementing the Paris Agreement. This year, Germany will commit 18 million EUR (19.1 million USD) for its international climate initiative.