Standard Chartered and Britcham webinar discusses carbon markets and net zero

Gareth Ward, British Ambassador to Vietnam, graced the event with an opening address in which he shared his insights on COP26 initiatives and the role of businesses to escalate a low carbon environment to support climate change and sustainability.

“COP26 will bring together heads of state, climate experts, businesses, and campaigners to agree coordinated action to tackle climate change. The next steps to delivering net-zero global emissions by 2050 are expected to be agreed at the COP26,” said Gareth Ward, British Ambassador to Vietnam.

“The good news is many businesses are leading the way, making strong commitments and rapid progress towards a net-zero carbon future. More and more businesses and governments are making net-zero announcements, more and more global initiatives bringing together the world’s most influential businesses driving the transition to 100 per cent renewable energy such as RE100, EV100, Climate Action 100+, TCFD…However, we will need to accelerate the scale of these rapidly if we are to achieve a net-zero emissions world by 2050,” he added

Tang The Cuong, director general of the Climate Change Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, delivered a keynote speech about the direction and strategy of Vietnam towards climate change, the collective effort of the Vietnamese government and organisations in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including the development plans of Vietnam carbon exchange.

The event continued with a panel discussion participated by Chris Leeds, executive director, Carbon Markets Development, Standard Chartered Bank, and Nguyen Thi Bich Van, chairman of Unilever Vietnam, and Karen Westley, vice president of Carbon & Environment, Shell Global Solutions. The panel was moderated by Denzel Eades, board member, BritCham Vietnam.

“Climate change is no doubt one of the greatest challenges facing the world today, given its widespread and proven impacts on the physical environment, human health, and its potential to adversely impact economic growth. It is important that a just transition to net-zero carbon economies is accelerated. As an international bank with unrivalled global expertise and local knowledge, we are committed to playing our part in contributing to, facilitating, and leading the change in Vietnam,” Michele Wee, CEO of Standard Chartered Vietnam said. “At Standard Chartered, we have made our own commitments towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to achieve net zero by 2030 as an organisation and for our balance sheet by 2050. We have heard from our investors and clients to accelerate our efforts without slowing development. We will need to support and mobilise finance to facilitate decarbonising our clients and their supply chain. Standard Chartered is fully committed to this global agenda.”

“The sustainability agenda involves countries, markets, corporates, and individuals working together to achieve a common goal of emissions reduction. Today’s webinar reflected this effort and BritCham looks forward to progressing the sustainability agenda in Vietnam with Standard Chartered,” said Denzel Eades, board member, the British Chamber of Commerce Vietnam.

The webinar is the first of the sustainability webinar series to be organised from now till the end of the year by Standard Chartered Vietnam and Britcham as part of their recently announced partnership agreement to promote sustainable development in Vietnam and the application of ESG among businesses.

The series will focus on topical matters and involve key relevant stakeholders from the government, regulators and industry thought leaders to help participating businesses and organisations devise effective strategies for their sustainable development.