Viet Nam
Viet Nam is one of the three new countries in this year`s CCPI. The country is among the low performing countries and is ranked 43th.
In the category Renewable Energy, Viet Nam receives a medium rating. In the GHG Emissions, Energy Use, and Climate Policy categories, the Viet Nam shows a low performance in the CCPI.
The Vietnamese government has published a draft for a national power development plan (PDP VIII) this year. In which the government plans it`s future energy supply and sets efforts to decarbonize the country. The CCPI experts believe it is import to advocate for PDP VIII because of its planned expansion of renewable energies. Weak points are that renewable energies will only be part of the energy mix, as coal- and gas-fired power will still dominate until 2030. The experts explain that sustainable and stable finance and a reliable framework are needed to achieve development of solar energy from local industry. Viet Nam also still has high fossil fuel subsidies and currently more than 43% of Viet Nam’s power generation came from coal last year. The experts note an increase of solar power, but they do see more potential for solar and other renewable energies though. Last year’s NDC shows a slight improvement, despite that the experts criticize that the target is not in line with the global 1.5°/2° goal.
The following national expert agreed to be mentioned as contributor for this year’s CCPI: Lars Blume (Climate and Energy Consultant for SEA)
Technical note: how to read the target comparison graph
The graph above shows the development of a country over the past years compared with its Paris compatible pathway and 2030 target. For all three quantitative categories of the CCPI, this visualisation gives an overview of where a country is right now, where it would need to be to fulfil the Paris Agreement promises and where it aims to be in 2030.
For GHG emissions per capita, the data includes LULUCF, as used for the emissions per capita indicator. This leads to the vast changes in emissions of some countries with high forest coverage.
The calculation of individual country target pathways is based on the common but differentiated convergence approach (CDC). It is based on the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities” laid forth in the Framework Convention on Climate Change. All Annex I countries therefore have a decreasing pathway from 1990 onwards, starting at that year’s emissions. 60 years later, in 2050, these countries are expected to reach net zero emissions. All other countries, which did not reach the level of global average emissions in 1990, are allowed to increase emissions until the average is reached. But by latest 2015 these countries, too, have decreasing pathways and 60 years to reach net zero. These pathways start from the global average.
The Renewable Energy data is given in per cent of Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES) and includes hydro energy, consistent with the respective CCPI indicator. As global distribution of Renewables (especially solar and wind) only started in the 2000s, the pathways in this category start in 2010. All countries have an equal goal: 100% Renewables in 2050, each starting from its 2010 value.
For Energy Use the Primary Energy Supply per capita is shown. All pathways for this category start at country’s 1990 values and meet at global average of 80 gigajoules per capita in TPES.
For 2°C and 1.5°C scenarios, a decrease in emissions by reducing the (growth in) energy use is as crucial as deploying renewable (or other low-carbon) technologies. The IPCC carried out a scenario comparison using a large number of integrated assessment models. From the scenarios available, we observe that the total amount of global energy use in 2050 has to be roughly the same level or a bit higher than it is today, with a margin of uncertainty. At the same time population will grow slightly between today and 2050. We therefore pragmatically chose the well-below-2° compatible benchmark to be “same energy use per capita in 2050 as the current global average”, which is 80 gigajoules per capita in TPES.
