Vietnam on the Green Economy Tracker: What the Score Reveals
- Luna Sita
- 16 hours ago
- 5 min read
The language of the green economy is now firmly embedded in public policy. Governments are setting climate targets, expanding renewable energy, and introducing green finance and circular economy policies. Across Southeast Asia, these ideas are no longer niche. They are becoming part of how countries discuss competitiveness, investment, jobs, and long-term development.
The challenge is no longer whether governments are talking about the green economy, but whether those ambitions are translating into concrete action.
When every country has climate commitments and green economy plans, how do we know what is actually changing? Which policies are already in place? And which areas are still weak?
This is where the Green Economy Tracker becomes useful. The Green Economy Tracker is a policy benchmarking platform developed by the Green Economy Coalition and supported by IIED Europe. It helps assess how countries are progressing toward greener and fairer economies by looking at policy ambition across different policy areas. One of the countries in Southeast Asia covered (and recently updated) by the Tracker is Vietnam.
Read What is Green Economy Tracker, A New Lens for Southeast Asia's Growth
This quick-moving country has become a major manufacturing hub, energy demand is rising, and green growth is increasingly embedded in national development planning. Vietnam’s score should therefore not be seen simply as a result, but as a starting point for discussion.
Strong Planning, but Implementation Still Matters
One of Vietnam’s clearest strengths is national green economy planning.
The Vietnam National Green Growth Strategy 2021–2030, vision to 2050, provides the country’s core framework for green growth. It links economic restructuring with environmental sustainability, lower emissions, greener production and consumption, a circular economy, and long-term resilience (1).
This strategy is supported by the National Action Plan on Green Growth for 2021–2030, and includes 18 topics, 57 groups of tasks, and 134 specific tasks and activities to help implement the strategy across institutions and sectors (2).
This is important because the green economy transition cannot rely only on scattered and siloed projects. It requires strong national-level policy direction, cross-sector coordination, and long-term political commitment.
However, strong planning is not the same as full delivery. The Green Economy Tracker notes that Vietnam’s green growth, climate, and circular economy frameworks are extensive and ambitious on paper, but implementation remains uneven, fragmented across ministries and provinces, and sometimes slow to materialize.
That is one of the key lessons from the profile: Vietnam has built an important policy foundation, but the next challenge is making that foundation work consistently in practice.
Participation is the Missing Piece
Green economy policy affects many groups, such as workers, small businesses, farmers, local communities, civil society, and many more. Ensuring these groups have meaningful opportunities to participate in policymaking is therefore essential.
Vietnam has formal consultation and regulatory impact assessment procedures. Draft legal documents can be published for public comment, and consultation is part of policymaking processes. These are important foundations. But the Tracker notes that participation is often still procedural, with limited meaningful engagement from the public and local communities.
This matters because those most affected by policy often have valuable knowledge of the practical barriers and trade-offs that may not be visible in national planning processes. Stronger participation can make green economy policy more realistic, inclusive, and trusted.
A green economy should not only be designed for people. It should also be shaped with them.
Finance is Moving, but Carbon Pricing Needs Delivery
A green economy also needs finance. Vietnam has made progress in green finance and banking. Circular No. 17/2022/TT-NHNN requires banks to assess environmental risks in credit activities and establish internal systems for environmental risk management (3). Vietnam has also issued Decision No. 21/2025/QD-TTg on environmental criteria and verification of projects under the green taxonomy, which supports green credit and green bond development (4).
Carbon pricing is also developing. Vietnam has begun building a national carbon market framework under the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 and related regulations. The Tracker notes that the country has approved a roadmap for developing the carbon market, introduced monitoring, reporting, and verification requirements for major emitters, and moved toward a domestic carbon exchange.
Sectoral Momentum: Circular Economy and Clean Energy
Vietnam’s sectoral policies are one of the stronger parts of its Green Economy Tracker profile.
Circular economy is especially notable. Vietnam introduced the circular economy concept through the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 and has since developed implementation mechanisms, including extended producer responsibility and recycling requirements. Decision No. 222/QD-TTg, issued in 2025, introduced the National Action Plan for Circular Economy implementation by 2035 (5).
Clean energy is another major area. Vietnam’s revised Power Development Plan VIII, approved under Decision No. 768/QD-TTg in 2025, updates the country’s power development direction for 2021–2030 with a vision to 2050 (6). The Green Economy Tracker notes that renewable energy is expected to reach around 30.9–39.2% of the power mix by 2030 and 67.7–71.5% by 2050.
These targets signal strong ambition and demonstrate the growing importance of circular economy and renewable energy within Vietnam’s long-term development strategy.
The Fairness Question: Just Transition, MSMEs, and Social Protection
A green economy should not only be low-carbon and resource-efficient. It should also be fair.
Vietnam’s profile shows that just transition is one of the areas that deserves more attention. The Tracker recognizes that Vietnam’s green growth strategy, Power Development Plan VIII, and Just Energy Transition Partnership include references to workforce transformation, retraining, and social support. But it also notes that planning for coal-region transition, benefit sharing, and social protection remains incomplete.
Social protection consideration within the context of the green transition is another gap. Vietnam’s revised Power Development Plan VIII frames the energy transition as fair and includes measures to strengthen technical and managerial skills in the electricity sector. However, it provides limited detail on targeted social protection for vulnerable groups, affected workers, or households facing energy affordability pressures. Social protection therefore still mainly relies on existing insurance and welfare systems, with limited evidence of new approaches directly linked to the green transition.
Why This Matters for Southeast Asia
Vietnam’s profile is important beyond Vietnam.
Across Southeast Asia, countries face similar questions: how to grow while reducing emissions, how to attract green investment while protecting communities, how to create green jobs while supporting workers through change, and how to make national policy work at the local level.
Asian Development Bank’s 2026 report on the green economy transition in ASEAN highlights the need for low-carbon, resource-efficient, and socially inclusive growth, while also examining green economy metrics, job creation, policies, regulations, and investment opportunities across the region (7).
Vietnam’s profile shows that green economy ambition is real. But it also shows that ambition alone is not enough.
Visit Vietnam’s Green Economy Tracker profile to explore the evidence behind the scores and review the sources. A greener and fairer economy requires more than ambitious targets. It also requires participation, implementation, transparency, and continuous public learning. You can help keep the profile current by clicking the “Have Your Say” button and sharing relevant information or feedback.
This article was contributed by su-re.co and IIED Europe to strengthen public understanding, participation, and evidence-based discussion around the Green Economy Tracker, a policy analysis platform developed by the Green Economy Coalition. Stay tuned for the next blog in this series.
References
Government of Viet Nam. (2021, October 1). Decision No. 1658/QD-TTg approving the National Green Growth Strategy for 2021–2030, vision to 2050. https://en.baochinhphu.vn/.
Government of Viet Nam. (2022, July 22). Decision No. 882/QD-TTg approving the National Action Plan on Green Growth for the 2021–2030 period. https://chinhphu.vn/.
State Bank of Viet Nam. (2022, December 23). Circular No. 17/2022/TT-NHNN on environmental risk management in credit extension activities.
Government of Viet Nam. (2025, March 28). Decision No. 21/2025/QD-TTg on environmental criteria and certification of investment projects under the green taxonomy.
Government of Viet Nam. (2025, January 23). Decision No. 222/QD-TTg issuing the National Action Plan for Circular Economy implementation by 2035.
KPMG. (2025, July). Revised Power Development Plan VIII of Vietnam under Decision 768/QD-TTg dated 15 April 2025 and its implementation guidance under Decision 1509/QD-BCT dated 30 May 2025 (Legal Update).
Asian Development Bank. (2026). Advancing the green economy transition in ASEAN. Asian Development Bank. https://doi.org/10.22617/TCS260074-2
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