Air pollution is becoming a pressing issue, especially in Vietnam's bigger cities. The Ecologic Institute supports the Vietnamese government in its current revision of the Law on Environmental Protection by researching international experience and providing tailored solutions for the Vietnamese context.
Vietnam's economy has grown enormously over the past decades triggering environmental deterioration all over the country – with air pollution becoming a pressing issue especially in bigger cities. An enormous increase in road traffic over the last years, the continuous connection of new coal power plants to the grid, the establishment of high-polluting industries as well as traditional sources such as the open burning of rice straw and emissions from craft villages contribute to the situation.
The Law on Environmental Protection of 2014, an umbrella law describing policy objectives as well as obligations of individuals, businesses and authorities for all environmental media has proven too weak to effectively tackle air pollution. Monitoring data to further understand the problem as well as an integrated approach including all sources and measures is still missing. Besides, enforcement of existing obligations and technical standards remains weak – also due to limited capacities of the competent authorities.
To tackle the most pressing issues, the Law on Environmental Protection is currently being revised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and will be submitted to the National Assembly for adoption in 2020. The GIZ global project "Integrated Air Quality Management and Climate Change Mitigation" supports MONRE in the revision process. Within the scope of this project, the Independent Institute for Environmental Issues and Ecologic Institute research international experience and provide recommendations tailored for the Vietnamese context.
The research covers experience from European countries such as Germany and the UK as well as experience from Asian countries such as South Korea, Thailand and China. It will identify effective regulatory and economic instruments for the different sources as well as successful enforcement practices. The findings and recommendations will be discussed with Vietnamese government officials and experts during a workshop conducted in Hanoi.
