HCM City lures green investments to boost sustainable development

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s biggest economic hub, is working to lure both domestic and foreign green investments, towards sustainable development.

The city has taken actions to join national efforts to achieve the goal of net-zero emission by 2050, with an economic forum themed “Green Growth – Journey to Zero Net Emissions” in September 2023.

Last month, the municipal People’s Committee also coordinated with the World Bank (WB) in organising an investment promotion conference for green growth.

Notably, green growth is a focus in the city’s planning orientations for 2021-2030 with a vision towards 2050, along with policies, criteria, and models in all sectors.

Under the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 98/2023/QH15 on piloting some specific mechanisms and policies for HCM City’s development, the southern metropolis is empowered to untangle knots to its development and devise mechanisms to attract resources in service of green transition.  

Tran Phu Lu, Director of the Investment & Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City, said the city will call for more investments in knowledge-intensive sectors and others with high added values and cutting-edge technologies.

In the short term, priority will be given to digital economy, industries based on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, microelectronics, semiconductors, information technology, new materials, and clean energy, among others.

In the long run, HCM City will encourage businesses to invest in innovation, and technology absorption and mastery, especially core and source technologies.

At the above-said conference, the working group between HCM City and the WB introduced two very large-scale projects on flood risk management in Thu Duc city and low-carbon urban area building.

Last year, HCM City issued a plan implementing the green growth strategy towards sustainable development by 2030, under which it set the target of attracting investments selectively, focusing on green and high-tech projects.

However, the lack of a detailed legal framework remains the biggest roadblock to the city’s path towards green growth.

Given this, strengthening public-private cooperation and perfecting the legal framework on green finance and green investment need to be done immediately, experts said./.