(VNF) - Vietnam will strengthen its climate change and green growth agenda with a USD90 million credit for policy reforms aligned with the World Bank Group’s Climate Change Action Plan.

Along with the recently approved Mekong Delta Integrated Climate Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods Project, this source of finance marks a new phase in World Bank support as Vietnam continues to focus on inclusive green growth while addressing key climate change vulnerabilities.

According to a press release issued by the WB on June 25th, this is the first in a series of three credits that will support the nation in response to climate change, led by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

The credit will fund the implementation of policies to improve integrated coastal zone planning and management, public investments related to climate change and green growth, protection of water resources and greater water use efficiency, as well as coastal forest development. It also supports policies in transportation and industrial production that will improve air quality, and in energy efficiency and renewables that will mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

Such policy actions will help Vietnam prepare to implement commitments made ahead of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Funding for the operation comes from the International Development Association of the World Bank, which lends money on concessional terms for the world’s poorest countries./.

( VNF )