Vietnam operates an online facility level greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting system

On March 31, the Department of Climate Change, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) organised a consultation meeting on Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) tracking and GHG reporting system to listen to international experience and the report on the process of development of online facility-level GHG reporting system.

For this work, VETS JICA SPI-NDC developed an online system, which is the first attempt to digitalise the Facility level GHG reporting system, and can provide the reporting platform with general guidance for facilities, and bottom-up information.

Project director Hoang Hai said the system had been completed and could consolidate a list of facilities that are required to conduct GHG inventory in accordance with Decision 01/2022/QD-TTg and update it when changes occur. Besides this, the system receives GHG inventory reports from facilities in digital form, instead of requiring them to submit printed reports as before.

“The competent authorities at the provincial level and relevant ministries will receive and provide feedback on GHG inventory reports through the system, rather than issuing documents to individual facilities, The system will continue to be updated when the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Construction, and the Ministry of Transport issue detailed guidance for their respective areas,” Hai said.

According to Decree No.06/2022/ND-CP on mitigation of GHG emissions and protection of the ozone layer, cement manufacturers will have to submit GHG emission data to the Ministry of Construction (MoC) before March 31, 2023. From 2024, businesses will be responsible for this work with a biennial frequency.

Hoang Hai said,“To have a good preparation for operating the system from 2024, authorities need to continue to implement GHG calculation function into the system for reporters. Each ministry needs to develop methodologies for calculation."

“It also needs to prepare the human resources, which require enough human resources from each ministry to manage and operate the system. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) has to prepare enough financial resources for the system operation, and simultaneously develop the skills for line ministries and reporters on system operation through training.”

Experts participating in the consultation meeting recommended that to complete this reporting system, it is necessary to review and standardise the terms and structure correctly by Measurement, Reporting and Verification experts. The system has to standardise the calculation tools and reporting forms for different sectors/sub-sectors according to the guidance of the ministries in charge.

Kanazawa Kota, section chief at the Office for Decarbonised Business Promotion at Japan's Ministry of the Environment, shared Japanese experience on GHG accounting and reporting, NDC tracking, and policy actions.

Experts from JICA SPI-NDC Project also proposed tracking indicators for the waste sector and cement sector at the meeting.