Channel NewsAsia
13 October 2015
Vietnam has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by eight per cent below normal levels by the year 2030, its contribution to the UN target of keeping global warming below two degrees Celsius.
The announcement came as world leaders gear up for the 2015 climate conference in Paris at the end of November.
“It’s ambitious, because at present Vietnamese emissions per capita is not so high, so in the near future especially in the period of 2021 to 2030 emissions will increase dramatically in the energy sector,” said Nguyen Khac Hieu, the Deputy Director General of Vietnam’s Natural Resources & Environment Ministry.
Vietnam’s total greenhouse gas emissions is forecast to jump threefold by 2030, as the country’s energy and agriculture sectors ramp up to feed and fuel its growing population.
National efforts will focus on energy, waste, and agriculture, which includes a target to grow forest cover to 45 per cent of total land area.