Initiated by the VCCI with the support of USAID and SPVB, the Green Index is designed to promote environmental institutional reform and strengthen investment projects with a focus on environmental protection in provinces and cities, helping to drive green business development. During a visit to Vietnam in August, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced that USAID would support the Green Index initiative to promote private sector participation in environmental action.

According to VCCI President Pham Tan Cong, in recent years, sustainable development has been a matter of great concern and attention by the Party and State. Specifically, Vietnam has actively been improving the institution by passing important laws such as the Law on Enterprises, the Law on Investment in pursuit of sustainable development; and devised a strategy to improve investment quality, especially FDI, focusing on attracting new projects of higher value.

"VCCI and USAID have been working together with SPVB to develop and implement the Green Index program, a set of indicators to evaluate and rank environment-friendly localities from the perspective of business practice," said the VCCI President.

“By developing the Green Index, we want to encourage provinces and cities in Vietnam to pay more attention to business development associated with environmental protection, provide timely information to support local governments in making policies related to investment and the environment, promoting the building of an environment-friendly business ecosystem, promoting more green, environment-friendly projects,” added VCCI President Pham Tan Cong.

“The historic agreements struck at the recently concluded COP26 to accelerate cooperation on climate action underscore the importance of collective action to preserve and protect our environment,” said USAID/Vietnam Mission Director Ann Marie Yastishock at the signing ceremony. “This new partnership brings us one step closer to elevating greater environmental awareness and driving greater sustainability to benefit Vietnam’s citizens and economy,” she added

The Green Index is designed to assess and rank the quality of environmental governance in 63 provinces and cities as perceived by businesses, and explore firms’ environmental behavior, their willingness to apply green technologies/practices, and their readiness to invest in green operations. Additionally, this trilateral partnership intends to establish the Green Index as a useful tool to inform local policy making and development of an environmentally sensitive business ecosystem.