Canada to support sustainable development, resilience in Vietnam: Climate Change Ambassador of Canada Catherine Stewart. (Photo: VNA)

Talking to Vietnamese media during her recent visit to Vietnam, Ambassador Stewart said the two countries have over 50 years of diplomatic relations. Over the more than 30 years of its development assistance, Canada has provided over 1.8 billion USD in development assistance for Vietnam to help ease poverty and inequality, empower women and girls, and address climate change.

Canada really wishes to continue the great cooperation with Vietnam, she said, noting that one reason for her presence in the country is to advance Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, which is a concerted effort by the Canadian Government to deepen Canada’s relations in the region as well as cooperation with Vietnam.

Affirming Canada’s commitment to supporting and promoting sustainable development and resilience in the region and Vietnam, the ambassador expressed her hope that both nations can remain active globally on climat change and sustainable development.

She noted that adaptation is a priority of Canada, which is witnessing obvious impacts of climate change. She pointed out the need to build strong communities with better adaptation to impacts of this global phenomenon, which may cost Vietnam 12 - 14% of its GDP by 2050.

“We really want to make sure that we are supporting communities in better being able to respond to the effects of climate change and build communities so that they can thrive in generations to come. That is why adaptation is really a key part of the Paris agreement,” she remarked.

Stewart went on to say that Canada has mitigation and adaptation measures and is providing support for the most vulnerable in the world.

She elaborated that as rising sea levels pose a very significant threat to Vietnam, including its Mekong Delta, Canada will provide support to help Vietnam resolve this issue.

Through the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Canada has assisted Vietnam to carry out a project on integrated natural disaster risk management and establish an integrated disaster risk management fund to support the development for innovative approaches and tools to manage disasters. It hopes to have more adaptation and resilience enhancement projects with Vietnam, according to the Climate Change Ambassador.

Highlighting energy transition as a highly important component of Canada’s climate finance, she voiced her country’s delight that at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), Vietnam made commitments to achieving the net zero emissions target by 2050, eradicating deforestation by 2030, and phasing out coal-fired power generation by 2040.

“With that commitment, we are very pleased that the international community, through the International Partners Group (IPG), was able to work with Vietnam in developing a just energy transition partnership,” she added. “I feel it is a very good example to the world of how a country with big needs to reduce emissions can work together on a plan to take that forward.”

There are several projects Canada plans to carry out in the coming years to help with energy transition in Vietnam, including the 50 million USD it has put forward to the World Bank along with efforts at the International Energy Agency, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the Southeast Asia Energy Transition Partnership.

Some of these projects will help Vietnam enhance its regulatory capacity, build capacity as well as analysis to push ahead with energy transition, Ambassador Stewart continued.

The Ambassador also said Canada is seeking partners for its “Global Carbon Pricing Challenge” initiative, which aims to promote the value of carbon pricing as a policy tool that can effectively drive down emissions, promote innovation, and improve energy efficiency and affordability. It looks forward to Vietnam joining the initiative soon.

She noted the other opportunity within the Global Carbon Pricing Challenge is to provide technical support and help countries build the capacity and technical ability to be able to manage carbon pricing. Canada is looking forward to offering that technical support to Vietnam but also to other countries that are interested in implementing their own carbon pricing systems.

“There is a lot of experience and knowledge out there and opportunities to be sharing lessons learned and best practices on carbon pricing. This is an area where we see Vietnam playing a big leadership role, having implemented emissions trading system and a leadership role also within ASEAN, which is why Canada’s Prime Minister Trudeau is very keen to see Vietnam join the partnership and he has reached out on this front already. So we look forward to working with Vietnam on that,” Stewart said.