Applying carbon credit in solid waste treatment

A consultant workshop on applying the carbon credit system in managing urban solid waste

The event saw the attendance of representatives of the Ministry of Construction (MoC), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), the World Bank, experts and major companies in solid waste based in northern and central Vietnam.

Speaking at the workshop, Duong Duc Tri, deputy general director of the Department of Climate Change under the MoNRE, said that the PRM targets building up the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) and also data system for solid waste. In addition, PRM focuses on piloting NAMA in three provinces and cities and officially put it into operation after 2020.

Accordingly, the estimated results of the PRM consist of issuing some policies and state management tools related to carbon market in solid waste and enhancing the ability to manage, supervise, and carry out activities regarding NAMA and NAMA for carbon credit.

Since early last year, the MoC has implemented many activities. These include proposing to develop three landfills in Hanoi, Haiphong city, and the southern province of Binh Duong – the pilot areas for the carbon market; constructing data centres for greenhouse gas emissions and tools for carbon markets; and increasing capacity to manage, supervise, and carrying out activities related to NAMA and NAMA for carbon credits.

Urbanisation, population increase, and industrial and service development have annually grown the number of solid waste. According to Vu Ngoc Anh, director of the Science-technology and Environment Department under the MoC, Vietnam currently has about 1,000 landfills in which 378 landfills are located in urban areas and 130 are assessed as sanitary. However, in 2014-2016, greenhouse gas emissions caused by the landfills was larger than the other kinds of waste treatment.

In 2014, solid waste landfills released more than 6.5 million tonnes of CO2, occupying 93 per cent of the total greenhouse gas emissions from solid waste treatment. In 2016, the amount was more than 8 million tonnes, occupying at 92 per cent.

In recent years, constructing solid waste treatment establishments has been on-trend. As of now, about 295 facilities have been built, including 36 organic-fertiliser compost facilities and 72 burning facilities.