THE HANOI TIMES — "Vietnam has yet to certify any industrial zones as official eco-industrial parks," Do Quang Hung, First Deputy General Director of the Japan-Haiphong Industrial Park, said at a conference on July 9.

Although many industrial zones have adopted eco-, circular-, and waste-recycling models, implementation remains scarce due to high costs, technological limitations, and a lack of regulatory policies.

Meanwhile, the rental fee at the industrial parks (IPs) has tripled to US$220/m2 now from 2018.

"It often takes an industrial park three to five years, or even a decade, to go green and truly meet ecological standards."

The official also warned of a growing trend of greenwashing: the practice of exaggerating or misrepresenting environmental practices.

"Some companies promote themselves as eco-friendly or sustainable, but their actions don't reflect their claims," he added.

According to Hung, developing green industrial zones is essential for integrating into the global value chain and achieving sustainable growth.

He also pointed out that the real shift toward sustainability lies in how individual factories operate within IPs.

To promote industrial symbiosis and transition to net-zero emissions, he proposed creating waste-exchange platforms that allow one plant's waste to serve as another’s input.

“Without this kind of internal recycling mechanism where factories consume each other’s waste, net-zero industrial zones will remain a distant goal,” he said.