Việt Nam, Japan seek to foster partnership within AZEC framework

Deputy Prime Minister Trần Hồng Hà during the meeting with Special Advisor of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yamada Takio, who also represents the Asia Zero Emission Community initiative in Hà Nội on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Đức

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Trần Hồng Hà on Wednesday hosted Yamada Takio, Special Advisor of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador of the Japanese government’s Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) initiative.

Congratulating Yamada for his appointment as the AZEC Ambassador, Hà affirmed that the contents of the AZEC have been discussed, agreed upon and received commitments from senior leaders of Việt Nam, Japan as well as partner countries.

The Deputy PM added that the realisation of the initiative should be demonstrated by specific projects such as those on improving the efficiency and reducing emissions of coal-fired power plants, switching from the use of coal and oil to natural gas, investing in offshore wind power, solar power, pumped-storage hydroelectricity, biomass power, and waste-to-power to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality, reducing net greenhouse gas emissions to zero (net zero) by 2050.

“We need to discuss specific and feasible contents, get to work and take business cooperation as the centre,” he stressed.

The Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority (under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade), the Japanese Embassy in Việt Nam and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) have established a working group for the implementation of AZEC.

The group’s operation includes a number of targets such as carrying out energy transition and green transition at power plants using fossil fuels in Việt Nam; promoting renewable energy power generation such as developing rooftop solar power, offshore wind power, waste-to-energy, biomass power; developing power systems and electricity markets, and diversifying the electricity market including wholesale and retail.

Deputy PM Hà said that energy projects within the framework of AZEC need to follow market mechanisms, ensuring supply and energy efficiency, carbon neutrality, and net zero realisation.

Regarding the roadmap for Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) implementation, Hà expressed his hope that Japanese partners and Việt Nam will work closely together in research, testing, sharing, transferring technologies and applying new technological solutions to increase the capacity of environmentally friendly hydropower plants, while forming an international carbon credit market to create a green financial flow to offset renewable energy project investment costs.

For his part, Yamada said that the Japanese government and other parties are working hard to promote the AZEC.

The Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) has proposed specific projects and delivered commitments to providing comprehensive support to the implementation of the initiative, he added.

“Việt Nam is one of the most important partners in implementing the AZEC,” he asserted, praising the country’s efforts in realising net zero commitments by issuing mechanisms and policies and implementing specific projects.

At the meeting, Yamada proposed a list of feasible gas-fired power, renewable energy, transmission infrastructure projects with the participation of large-scale Japanese corporations and banks. — VNS