Sustainability gains ground with collabs

At COP30 last week in Brazil, Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE) became a member of the Alliance of Countries for Food System Transformation (ACF). The moves underscores Vietnam’s proactive role in global efforts to ensure food security, enhance climate resilience, and reduce emissions from agriculture, one of the key sources of national greenhouse gas emissions.

Vietnam is expanding green cooperation with international partners based on transparency, Photo: Shutterstock

The ACF, launched in 2023, was established with the objective of accelerating a comprehensive transformation of global food systems towards greater sustainability. Vietnam’s admission into the alliance reflects international recognition of the country’s efforts to reform its agricultural and food production systems in recent years.

Speaking at the Ministerial Meeting of ACF, Deputy Minister Le Cong Thanh of Agriculture and Environment said, “Joining the ACF will help Vietnam foster innovation, access technical and financial resources for agricultural transformation, and create opportunities to share our experience while learning from other member countries.”

The alliance is built upon core principles such as strengthening food and nutrition security, promoting equity and sustainable livelihoods, enhancing climate resilience, reducing emissions, and protecting natural ecosystems and biodiversity. These principles align closely with Vietnam’s shift towards multi-value agriculture, which places emphasis on productivity, quality, sustainability, nutrition, and low emissions.

Vietnam’s participation in the ACF will support the implementation of several national strategies, including those on sustainable agriculture, climate change, biodiversity strategy, and sustainable food system transformation. The move also elevates Vietnam’s position in global initiatives on agriculture and food systems, sectors crucial to the global effort to keep temperature rise below 1.5°C.

Deputy Minister Thanh said, “Vietnam is ready to expand cooperation with international partners under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, based on transparency and credibility.”

This also reflects Vietnam’s proactive approach to new carbon market mechanisms, increasingly important for climate finance mobilisation.

Beyond international negotiations, numerous cooperation projects between Vietnam and global partners are being implemented nationwide, helping translate policy commitments into tangible action.

On November 18, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, in partnership with the Dutch Embassy and the DEEP C Industrial Zone complex in Haiphong city, launched a pilot project on industrial wastewater reuse. The project adopts nano-filtration membrane technology combined with reverse osmosis to treat wastewater at the central treatment plant, producing water suitable for reuse, such as cooling or cleaning solar panels within the industrial zone.

The pilot is also expected to pave the way for large-scale wastewater reuse across other industrial zones in Vietnam. By providing empirical data and assessments of technical and financial feasibility, it will contribute to shaping Vietnam’s national standards for wastewater reuse, an essential component of the circular economy transition.

Francesca Nardini, deputy resident representative of UNDP Vietnam, noted, “Piloting four technology schemes will help assess cost and performance based on evidence. This will lay the groundwork for industrial symbiosis, an essential condition for eco-industrial parks, while strengthening water security and reducing environmental impacts.”

In mid-November, the Vietnam Agency of Seas and Islands under the MAE, together with the UNDP, launched another major initiative to support an action plan on ocean plastic waste. Funded by the Global Environment Facility, the four-year project starts with a pilot in Gia Lai province.

Nguyen Duc Toan, director general of the agency, said the 2020 pandemic led to a dramatic increase in single-use plastics and medical waste, creating significant pressure on marine ecosystems. “The new project will accelerate behaviour change, improve collection and recycling, and scale up successful models previously supported by the UNDP, such as the material recovery facility in Quy Nhon and other models,” Toan said.

The project aims to reduce 2,000 tonnes of plastic waste and improve more than seven kilometres of marine habitat. Local-level interventions such as source separation, reduced waste generation, and enhanced recycling will lead to tangible improvements, the UNDP added.

Vietnam’s international cooperation momentum continued in the middle of November, as MAE Minister Tran Duc Thang met with the EU Delegation to Vietnam.

Both sides discussed accelerating approval procedures for a €20 million ($23 million) technical assistance project for Vietnam’s forestry sector, expected to enhance sustainable forest management, and anti-deforestation commitments aligned with EU global priorities. The EU also proposed signing an MoU on circular economy cooperation and climate action, further operationalising the strategic partnership between Vietnam and the EU in agriculture and environmental governance.

Earlier in the month, the MAE also signed an MoU with the World Wide Fund for Nature. The renewed cooperation will focus on three priority areas: promoting sustainable agro-forestry-fishery, applying nature-based solutions; conserving ecosystems and biodiversity, strengthening landscape connectivity and community participation; and enhancing climate resilience, reducing emissions, and promoting a green transition, moving towards carbon crediting mechanisms in agriculture and forestry.