Vietnam Stresses Energy Transition for Climate Action at COP27

An overview of the COP27 opening ceremony. Photo: VNA

On the sidelines of the ongoing 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha had a working session on November 6 with President for COP26 Alok Sharma, who represents the United Kingdom, the European Union and the Group of Seven (G7), on the support for Vietnam in energy transition.

Speaking at the meeting, Ha said that energy transition is a key factor for Vietnam to realise the goal of bringing the net gas emissions to zero by 2050 that it committed at COP26 last year. However, in this work, Vietnam are still facing many difficulties as it is home to a lot of coal-fired power plants built a long time ago.

The development of renewable energies must go in line with ensuring energy security, the minister stressed, proposing the UK, the EU and G7 countries to support the transfer of advanced technologies related to wind and solar power to Vietnam to help the country successfully implement the energy transition, ensuring affordable prices for everyone.

Alok Sharma welcomed Vietnam's strong commitment to energy transition of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, agreeing to continue the negotiations to come to an agreement harmoniously ensuring both sides’ interests.

The two sides also exchanged views on how to enhance mutual understanding, and agreed that the two parties need to have political commitments on energy transition.

The Vietnamese delegation to the event, to last until November 18, is scheduled to attend the opening session and the plenary one, and have bilateral and multilateral working sessions to promote the implementation of the commitments on climate change.

At the working session between Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha (R) and President for COP26 Alok Sharma. Photo: VNA

Since 1995, world leaders and their delegates have convened annually to discuss the critical issue of global warming, carbon emissions, and how to tackle climate change.

Since Berlin hosted the first summit almost three decades ago, the location has rotated among five UN regional groupings: Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, and Western Europe and Others.

This year’s location has prompted calls for the conference to focus on African countries, which are some of the most vulnerable to climate change.

For the first time since the adoption of the UN climate convention, Parties agreed to introduce the loss and damage funding as an agenda item, according to Ahram Online.

Over 41,000 people are participating in COP27, including heads of state and government and media professionals, Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in a presser on the sidelines of the event.

“The implementation of climate commitments rests with everyone, everywhere in the world,” Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said in his address at the opening of the climate gathering.

Stiell called for focusing on three tracks during the two-week summit: the transition from the negotiations stage to that of tangible action, the provision of climate finance to achieve the Paris Accord goals, and reinforcing the principle of transparency and environmental reliability.

Sameh Shoukry, president of the COP27 climate summit, speaks at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. AP

COP27 President Sameh Shoukry highlighted several obstacles in the way of climate change efforts, saying “climate change-related efforts over the past decades were remarkably polarised, which has slowed down progress of the negotiations … and the current mobilization efforts have raised many concerns, that the US$100 billion a year pledge has not yet been honored.”

“Also, the currently available financing focuses on curbing emissions, not adaptation efforts. Also, most of the financing is based on loans,” he pointed out.

“We have to change our approach to this existential threat. We have to work diligently and honestly and listen to one another and to the concerns of other parties and understand them, and we also have to work to reach consensual solutions that can be implemented,” Shoukry said.

In his speech, COP26 President Alok Sharma called for unity moving forward to keep the 1.5-degree goal within reach, emphasizing the important role that finance will play in this COP.

“We know that we have reached a point where finance makes or breaks the progress of the program ahead of us,” he said.

“This summit must be about concrete actions and I hope when the world leaders join us today, they will explain what their countries achieved during the last year and how they will go further,” he added.

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